NELSON  IN  ENCLAND 


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Dl'F 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 


NELSON 
IN  ENGLAND: 

A  Domestic    Chronicle 


By 

E.   Hallam    Moorhouse 

Author  of  "Nelson's  Lady  Hamilton  "  ;  "Samuel 

Pepys  :  Administrator,  Observer,  Gossip  "  ; 

"  Letters  of  the  English  Seamen,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  CO. 

31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 
19*3 


Printed  by    Tlif.   Wett»i>n*t*r  Preux,  411  a  narrow  Itoad,  Lwndvn,    W. 


*  ^ 

CONTENTS 
\* 

CHAPTER.  PAGE 

I    BURNHAM  THORPE  I 

II    THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  19 

III  DEVELOPMENT  43 

IV  RURAL  YEARS  56 
V    HOME  LETTERS  79 

VI    THE  WOUNDED  HERO  101 

VII    YEARS  OF  ABSENCE  117 

VIII     ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE  137 

IX    HOME  SHORES  159 

X     "  PARADISE  MERTON  "  177 

XI    TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND  203 

XII    THE  Two  YEARS'  SACRIFICE  225 

XIII  THE  LAST  LANDFALL  236 

XIV  ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY  255 
XV    THE  "  NELSON  TOUCH  "  269 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Nelson.  From  the  portrait  by  an  unknown 
artist  in  Norwich  Castle  Museum  Frontispiece 

All  Saints'  Church,  Burnham  Thorpe,  and  the 
Font  at  which  Nelson  was  Christened  6 

The  Old  Parsonage  at  Burnham  Thorpe. 
From  a  sketch  by  H.  Crowe,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Earl  Nelson  8 

The  Royal  Grammar  School,  Norwich  12 

Nelson's  Classroom  at  the  Grammar  School         16 

Portrait  of  Nelson  as  a  Midshipman.  In 
possession  of  Lad}?-  Llangattock  20 

Mrs.  Horatio  Nelson.  From  a  water-colour 
drawing  by  G.  P.  Harding  after  Edridge. 
By  permission  of  Hutchinson  &  Co.  60 

Old  Print  of  the  Admiralty,  Whitehall  70 

Board  Room  at  the  Admiralty  80 

Rear- Admiral  Sir  Horatio  Nelson,  K.B.  From 
an  Engraving  by  W.  Evans  after  the 
drawing  by  H.  Edridge  98 

"  The  Roundwood,"  Ipswich  110 

Bust  of  Nelson  by  Mrs.  Darner.  From  the 
Print  in  possession  of  Admiral  Sir  Wilmot 
Fawkes  142 

vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Nelson,  Engraving  by  E.  Horace  154 

Nelson,  by  Sir  William  Beechey  166 

Merton  Place,  Surrey.  From  a  Print  in  posses- 
sion of  Admiral  Sir  Wilmot  Fawkes  180 

Plan  for  Alterations  at  Merton  Place.  In 
possession  of  Admiral  Sir  Wilmot  Fawkes  190 

The  Rev.  Edmund  Nelson.  From  an  Aqua- 
tint in  possession  of  Admiral  Sir  Wilmot 
Fawkes  194 

Bust  of  Nelson  by  L.  Gahagan  206 

Sketch  of  Nelson  by  De  Roster  220 

Lord  Viscount  Nelson.  From  an  Aquatint 
by  Thomas  Tegg  234 

Back  exit  of  the  "  George  "  Hotel,  Portsmouth   252 

Remains  of  Lord  Nelson  Lying  in  State  at 
Greenwich  Hospital,  by  C.  A.  Pugin  258 

Funeral  Procession  of  Lord  Nelson,  by  C.  A. 
Pugin  260 

Panorama  of  Lord  Nelson's  Funeral  Pro- 
cession, by  George  Cruikshank  262 

Funeral  Procession  of  Lord  Nelson,  by  W.  M. 
Craig  264 

Funeral  Procession  at  St.  Paul's,  by  C.  A. 
Pugin  266 

Interment  of  Lord  Nelson,  by  C.  A.  Pugin     268 

Painted  Hall,  Greenwich,  and  Nelson's 
Funeral  Car,  by  Pugin  and  Rowlandson  270 

Britannia  Consecrating  the  Ashes  of  the 
Immortal  Nelson  272 


Vlll 


FOREWORD 

THERE  is  little  need  for  a  new  life  of  Nelson 
—this  book  is  no  such  thing.  Instead,it  deals 
with  perhaps  the  one  aspect  of  Nelson's 
life  that  has  met  with  neglect  from  his  biographers 

—the  domestic  aspect,  the  years  he  spent  in  Eng- 
land. The  attempt  has  been  made  here  to  trace 
all  the  English  allusions  in  his  immense  corres- 
pondence, to  follow  him  to  the  places  that  he  knew 
and  visited  in  the  small  island  where  he  was  born. 
Such  a  history  of  his  life  is  bound  to  be  limited  in 
scope,  unillumined  by  his  victories,  by  his  most 
daring  and  characteristic  actions.  Yet  in  some 
sort  it  is  hoped  that  this  quiet  chronicle  may  have 
in  it  some  quality  that  is  necessarily  obscured  by 
the  "  drum  and  trumpet  "  history.  It  is  by  means 
of  the  homely  and  the  everyday  that  we  get  at 
the  heart  of  our  hero.  In  battle  he  was  inspired, 
in  love  all  his  characteristics  were  exaggerated 
and  emphasised  almost  to  the  point  of  distortion 

—but  there  were  many  quiet  years,  many  peaceful 
pursuits  in  Nelson's  life  when  neither  battle  nor 
the  beloved  woman  was  the  principal  motive  of 
his  existence  ;  when  he,  like  the  rest  of  us,  was  just 
living  his  life  from  day  to  day,  pleased  and  grieved 
by  little  things. 

Burnham  Thorpe  is  a  place  of  pilgrimage  for 
his  sake,  so  too  is  that  last  flagship  of  his  in 

ix 


FOREWORD 

Portsmouth  Harbour.  But  there  are  other  places 
which  might  be  remembered  and  guarded  because 
of  Nelson :  foremost  among  these  is  the  Round- 
wood,  near  Ipswich.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that 
the  patriotism  of  East  Anglians,  if  not  of  English 
men  and  women  in  general,  should  make  this  sole 
remaining  home  of  Nelson  a  national  possession, 
and  safe  from  those  destructive  hands,  which  in 
so  many  cases  have  wildly  pulled  down  what  they 
can  never  build  up  again  ? 

I  have  received  so  much  help  from  correspondents 
who  answered  my  request  for  local  information 
that  it  is  impossible  to  thank  them  all  by  name, 
but  I  am  particularly  indebted  to  the  Rev.  H.  M. 
Eliott-Drake  Briscoe,  Rector  of  Burnham  Thorpe, 
for  great  kindness  and  assistance,  and  also  for 
the  generous  permission  to  reproduce  in  facsimile 
the  interesting  Nelson  letter  in  his  possession  ; 
to  Mr.  Frank  Woolnough,  Curator  of  the  Ipswich 
Museum,  for  help  and  personal  assistance  in 
regard  to  Nelson's  association  with  Ipswich  ;  to 
Canon  Bruce  Payne  for  similar  information  with 
regard  to  Deal ;  to  Mr.  T.  O.  Lloyd  of  Warwick  ; 
to  Miss  Anne  Nisbet  of  Gloucester ;  to  Miss  H. 
Vernon ;  to  Mrs.  Rideout ;  to  the  Rev.  James 
Weller  ;  to  Miss  Matcham  and  her  publisher  Mr. 
John  Lane  for  permission  to  quote  letters  from 
The  Nelsons  of  Burnham  Thorpe  ;  to  Mrs.  Stirling 
and  Mr.  John  Lane  for  permission  to  quote  from 
her  life  of  "  Coke  of  Norfolk  "  ;  to  Sir  Henry 
Rider  Haggard  and  Messrs.  Longmans  for  the  like 

x 


FOREWORD 

kind  consent  in  regard  to  A  Farmer's  Year  ;  to  Mr. 
Edgcumbe  and  Mr.  John  Murray  for  allowing  me 
to  take  interesting  extracts  from  The  Diary  of 
Frances  Lady  Shelley. 

In  regard  to  the  illustrations,  I  am  indebted  to 
Earl  Nelson  for  permission  to  reproduce  the 
picture  of  the  Old  Parsonage  at  Burnham  Thorpe  ; 
to  Lady  Llangattock  for  the  portrait  of  Nelson 
as  a  midshipman  ;  to  Admiral  Sir  Wilmot  Fawkes 
for  the  loan  of  four  old  prints ;  to  Mr.  Gerard 
Meynell  for  five  photographs  taken  specially  for 
this  book ;  to  Mr.  Frank  Keevil  of  Bath  for  the 
photograph  of  the  Nelson  bust ;  to  the  Curator 
and  Committee  of  the  Norwich  Castle  Museum 
for  permission  to  reproduce  the  Nelson  portrait 
which  appears  as  frontispiece  and  has  never  been 
reproduced  before ;  to  Mr.  Harvey,  Printseller, 
of  St.  James's  Street,  and  Mr.  Parker,  Printseller, 
of  Whitcomb  Street,  for  the  loan  of  several  of  the 
old  prints  which  adorn  this  volume. 

To  all  who  have  helped  me  and  do  not  find  their 
help  acknowledged  in  the  above  list  I  offer  my 
thanks  and  my  apologies. 


XI 


CHAPTER  I :  BURNHAM  THORPE. 


1 


"\WO  aspects  of  Nelson's  career — his 
supreme  fame  as  a  seaman  and  his  con- 
nection with  Lady  Hamilton — have  so 
fixed  the  public  gaze,  appealing  as  they  do 
to  what  are  perhaps  the  strongest  sentiments 
in  the  human  breast,  the  love  of  glory  and  of 
country  and  the  love  of  love,  that  other  sides 
of  his  life  and  character  have  almost  dropped 
into  obscurity.  But  Nelson's  nature  was  at 
once  too  rich  and  too  simple  to  be  fully 
expressed  and  satisfied  even  by  such  a  war  as 
that  with  Napoleon,  and  such  a  woman  as  the 
"  divine  Emma."  Those  are  the  high  lights  in 
his  portrait,  the  objects  for  which  in  his  later 
years  he  openly  and  avowedly  lived — he  said  in 
one  of  his  letters  to  Emma  Hamilton,  "  I  have 
not  a  thought  except  on  you  and  the  French  fleet ; 
all  my  thoughts,  plans,  and  toils  tend  to  those 
two  objects.  Don't  laugh  at  my  putting  you  and 
the  French  fleet  together,  but  you  cannot  be 
separated."  But  in  spite  of  this  singleness  of 
purpose  and  simplicity  of  aim,  there  are  many 
subtler,  finer  touches  go  to  make  up  the  picture 
we  call  Nelson.  Surely  the  limelight  has  been 
cast  upon  him  a  little  too  violently,  so  that  we  see 

1  S^,T7k  B 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

nothing  but  sea-blue  and  blood-red,  and  forget 
that  country-green  and  the  very  quietest  kind  of 
English  life  had  gone  to  his  making  and  was  part 
of  his  soul. 

The  mythic  Nelson,  ever  brandishing  a  relentless 
sword,  is  not  half  so  lovable  a  person  as  the  real 
Nelson,  who  was  happy  not  only  in  boarding  a 
Spanish  First-Rate  but  in  planting  roses  in  his 
father's  retired  garden-plot  at  Burnham  Thorpe, 
far  from  all  the  stirrings  of  the  world.  "  Variety, 
the  Great  Idoll,  has  no  shrine  here,"  as  Nelson's 
father  quaintly  expressed  it  in  one  of  his  letters. 
But  it  was  the  very  lack  of  variety,  the  slowness 
of  each  quiet  day  that  had  so  deep,  though  un- 
conscious, an  influence  on  the  eager,  passionate 
temperament  of  Nelson.  Lacking  that  he  would 
have  lacked  background,  as  it  were,  that  balance 
which  underlay  the  impetuosity  all  people  saw. 
The  rural  life,  upbringing,  and  home  tradition  was 
always  with  him — all  the  glamour  of  a  foreign 
Court,  of  adulation  such  as  few  men  ever  receive, 
of  Mediterranean  sun  and  glowing  beauty,  never 
really  extinguished  Burnham  Thorpe  in  his  faithful 
mind.  He  would  remember  the  time  of  the  Burn- 
ham  hay-crop  or  the  village  fair  even  amid  his 
chase  of  the  French  fleet  or  on  entering  into  his 
last  battle.  It  is  no  idle  imagination  to  be  certain 
that  even  when  he  walked  that  curving  balcony 
—like  the  stern  gallery  of  one  of  his  own  flagships 
— of  Lady  Hamilton's  wonderful  boudoir  at  the 
Palazzo  Sessa,  one  end  of  which  looks  straight  on 

2 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

Vesuvius  and  the  other  on  the  lovely  slopes  of 
Posillipo,  with  Capri  in  front,  that  even  with  such 
a  matchless  scene  before  his  eyes,  another  picture 
was  not  absent  from  his  heart — the  memory  of  a 
homely  landscape,  of  "  the  charming,  open  Lawns, 
and  pure  air  collected  from  the  large  fields  of 
Thorpe,  mixed  with  the  fine  parts  of  a  clear, 
purling  stream,  bordered  with  Cresses,  Thyme 
and  Vervain." 

That  wild  melancholy,  the  declaration  that  he 
envies  no  man  save  he  of  the  estate  six  feet  by  two, 
which    breaks   out   frequently   in   Nelson's   later 
Mediterranean  letters,  was  often  enough  due  to 
the  sense  of  contrast  between  Norfolk  peace  and 
an   untroubled   heart   and   his   feverish   days   at 
Palermo  :    no  contrast  could  have  been  sharper. 
And  in  the  earlier  letters  from  the  Mediterranean, 
before  his  troubled  star  had  risen  upon  him  after 
the  battle  of  the  Nile,  how  constant  are  his  refer- 
ences   to    that    modest    dream    of   his   otherwise 
ambitious    life,    "  a    small    but    neat    Cottage "  ; 
how  amusing  to  us  and  yet  quite  solemnly  sincere 
in  him  the  statement,  "  I  shall  follow  the  plough 
with  much  greater  satisfaction  than  viewing  all 
the   magnificent    scenes    in    Italy."     To    him    in 
those  earlier   and  simpler  years  the  prospect  of 
retirement  and  a  country  life  at  Burnham  Thorpe 
was  a  pleasant  one  and  full  of  contentment,  though 
it  is  doubtful  if  his  soaring  spirit  could  really  have 
been  happy  in  a  rural  life.     But  how  his  thoughts 
turned  back  to  his  beginning  and  early  home  is 

3 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

shown  in  a  letter  he  wrote  the  year  before  his  death, 
when  he  had  drunk  deep  of  the  cup  of  glory  and 
most  things  the  world  offers  were  his  :  "  Most 
probably  I  shall  never  see  dear,  dear  Burnham 
again,  but  I  have  a  satisfaction  in  thinking  that 
my  bones  will  probably  be  laid  with  my  father's 
in  the  village  that  gave  me  birth." 

•  •  •  • 

Burnham  Thorpe,  in  Norfolk,  the  village  that 
gave  Nelson  birth,  is  little  altered  by  all  the  years 
that  have  passed  over  it  since  the  one  event  that 
yields  it  any  place  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  In 
1758,  the  year  that  Nelson  was  born,  Burnham 
Thorpe  was  an  untouched  rural  stronghold,  agri- 
cultural in  its  habits,  primitive  in  its  needs. 
To-day,  in  a  time  of  much  change  and  obliteration 
of  old  customs  and  old  peace,  Burnham  Thorpe  is 
so  little  altered  that  Nelson's  eyes  would  meet 
with  no  shock  were  they  to  dwell  again  on  these 
familiar  fields.  The  country  he  knew  is  the  same  ; 
the  roads  and  lanes,  with  their  high  tangled  hedges, 
crowded  with  elder-flower,  wild  rose,  clematis, 
and  poppies,  are  as  he  saw  them  in  the  summer, 
and  so  are  the  farms  with  their  plough-land  and 
pasture.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  place  more 
restful  than  this  corner  of  rural  Norfolk,  and  it 
was  a  kind  fortune  that  gave  Nelson  his  young 
years  in  such  surroundings,  to  balance  all  the  stress 
of  war  and  fierce  anxieties  which  were  his  later 
portion,  when  the  very  destinies  of  his  country 
hung  upon  the  inspiration  of  his  actions.  His 

4 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

father's  church  stands  as  he  knew  it,  save  for  a 
certain  amount  of  restoration ;  at  the  worn  font 
of  Purbeck  marble  where  he  was  baptised,  the 
children  of  his  village  are  still  christened.  In 
Burnham  Thorpe  it  is  easy  to  see  Nelson  wandering 
in  its  enduring  fields  and  living  that  homely 
English  life  his  heart  always  longed  for  in  later 
years,  when  the  world  had  given  him  fame,  but 
not  happiness. 

The  greatest  change  and  alteration  in  the 
Burnham  Thorpe  of  his  childhood — one  that  must 
be  perpetually  regretted  by  all  who  cherish  his 
memory — was  familiar  to  him,  for  the  old  Parson- 
age House  where  he  was  born  was  pulled  down  in 
1803,  two  years  before  his  death,  and  the  present 
Rectory  built  on  a  site  a  little  further  away  from 
the  road.  All  that  now  remains  of  the  old  Par- 
sonage is  a  small  portion  of  the  wall  built  into  the 
stables  that  stand  on  its  site.  On  his  last  visit 
to  Burnham,  Nelson  entered  the  new  Rectory  and 
is  said  to  have  remarked  that  it  was  "  a  very 
commodious  residence "  —though  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  his  affectionate  heart  must  have 
ached  for  the  old  house,  which  was  not  commo- 
dious, which  was  dark  and  low-roofed,  but  which 
was  endeared  by  many  memories  and  the  long 
ministrations  of  his  gentle  white-haired  father, 
who  for  forty-six  years  was  Rector  of  Burnham 
Thorpe. 

In  the  account  of  his  life  which  Nelson  himself 
wrote  for  Clarke  and  M' Arthur,  he  says  quite 

5 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

definitely  that  he  was  born  "  in  the  Parsonage- 
house,"  which  must  finally  settle  the  various  and 
conflicting  local  claims  for  that  honour.  One 
version  says  that,  owing  to  a  fire  at  the  Parsonage, 
his  parents  were  offered  a  temporary  refuge  at  a 
house  near  by,  still  standing,  the  property  then 
and  now  of  Lord  Orford,  who  was  a  relative  of 
Nelson's  mother,  and  that  there  he  was  born. 
Another  legend  is  quite  certain  that  he  was  born 
in  a  carriage  and  that  his  mother  was  taken  into 
a  farmhouse  which  still  exists  close  to  the  village 
inn,  called  Ivy  Farm,  and  there  stayed  until  she 
was  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  taken  to  the 
Parsonage,  a  mile  or  so  away. 

To  his  father  and  mother  the  birth  of  one  more 
infant  was  not  an  event  unusually  auspicious,  for 
already  they  had  had  five  children,  and  there  was 
no  reason  to  imagine  that  the  small  Horatio  was 
going  to  make  the  name  of  Nelson  resound  through 
Europe,  when  he  first  saw  the  light  on  that  late 
autumn  day  of  1758.  Nelson's  father  became 
Rector  of  Burnham  Thorpe  in  the  winter  of  1755, 
and  three  sons  and  a  daughter  had  been  born  to 
him  and  his  wife  Catherine  Suckling,  a  great-niece 
of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  before  they  settled  down 
in  the  Parsonage  House.  Two  of  these  sons, 
one  of  whom  was  named  Horatio,  died  in  babyhood, 
and  they  had  only  Maurice,  a  child  of  two  and  a 
half  years,  and  Susanna,  a  baby  of  barely  six 
months,  living  when  they  came  to  Burnham  from 
Swaffham.  The  fourth  son,  William,  was  born  in 

6 


ALL    SAINTS'    CHURCH,    BURNHAM    THORPE,    AND 
THE  FONT  AT  WHICH  NELSON  WAS  CHRISTENED. 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

1757,  and  in  the  following  year  the  second  and 
immortal  Horatio,  who  was  privately  baptised  on 
October  6th,  and  publicly  in  his  father's  church 
on  November  15th.  After  Horatio  came  three 
more  boys  and  two  girls,  of  whom  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  chronicle  of  Nelson's  home-life  is 
his  favourite  sister  Catherine,  the  youngest  of 
this  large  family  of  eleven. 

The  low,  two-storied  Parsonage  where  most  of 
the  children  were  born  and  grew  no  longer  stands, 
as  has  been  said,  but  pictures  of  it  exist  and  show 
it  to  have  had  much  quaint  charm.  It  appears 
as  if  the  original  house  (earlier  than  Nelson's  time) 
had  not  been  much  more  than  a  simple  cottage, 
rather  steep-eaved,  with  a  door  in  the  middle,  a 
window  on  either  side,  and  three  plain  square 
windows  above.  Then  an  addition  was  built  on 
at  some  later  date,  with  two  rather  unusual 
dormer  windows  in  the  roof.  The  whole  seems  to 
have  been  roofed  with  the  warm  red  fluted  tiles 
which  to  this  day  cover  the  cottages  and  barns  of 
Burnham  Thorpe,  Burnham  Westgate,  Burnham 
Deepdale,  and  all  the  seven  Burnhams  of  which 
the  old  rhyme  runs  : 

"  London,  Bristol,  and  Coventree, 
And  the  seven  Burnhams  by  the  sea." 

Up  the  steep  end  of  what  is  presumably  the  older 
portion  of  the  old  Parsonage  climb  fruit  trees, 
and  in  front  of  the  windows  is  a  green  stretch  of 
grass.  There  is  an  air  of  old-world  comfort  and 

7 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

friendliness  about  the  place,  it  is  a  home  where 
children  would  run  in  and  out  and  bang  the  doors 
and  climb  through  the  low  windows  and  trample 
the  flower-beds,  without  too  much  reproof.  And 
there  was  plenty  of  room  for  the  Nelson  children 
to  run  about  without  leaving  their  father's  land, 
for  the  Parsonage  had  thirty  acres  attached  to  it, 
where  farming  on  a  small  scale,  with  all  the  delight- 
ful accessories  of  cows  and  ducks,  chickens  and 
pigs,  was  carried  on,  and  potatoes,  vegetables 
and  fruit  grown  for  family  uses.  There  was  a 
stream  and  an  old  wooden  pump  with  a  trough 
in  front  of  it  (the  iron  and  part  of  the  wood  still 
surviving)  where  Horatio  and  his  brothers  splashed 
and  played,  and  there  were  rolling  fields  and  a 
wood  up  the  hillside  behind  the  house  where 
young  Horatio  climbed  on  a  memorable  day  and 
first  beheld  on  the  horizon  the  low  pale  line  of  the 
sea — the  North  Sea,  which  sweeps  round  the  coast 
of  Norfolk. 

Of  Nelson's  mother  little  record  survives,  except 
the  long  list  of  her  children.  She  had  been 
married  eighteen  years  and  was  only  forty- two 
when  she  died.  She  is  buried  in  Burnham  Thorpe 
church,  in  the  chancel,  and  her  plain  grey  tomb- 
stone, with  its  long  Latin  inscription,  bears  at  the 
close  the  abrupt  injunction  in  English— 

"  Let  these  alone, 
Let  no  man  move  these  Bones." 

There  is  a  portrait  of  her  by  Heins,  painted  some 

8 


THE  OLD  PARSONAGE  AT  BURNHAM  THORPE. 

From  a  sketch   by  H.  Crowe,  in  the  possession  of  Earl  Nelson. 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

years  before  her  wedding,  which  shows  her  simple- 
looking  and  grave,  with  high  forehead,  candid 
large  eyes,  and  a  mouth  which  a  little  recalls  her 
famous  son's  in  its  pouting  fulness.  But  it  is 
not  an  eloquent,  mobile  face  like  his — it  does  not 
tell  us  much  of  her  as  she  lived  and  moved  and 
ministered  to  her  husband  and  the  little  flock  that 
grew  about  her.  She  looks  a  woman  of  some  force 
of  character,  and  probably  was  a  source  of  strength 
to  her  husband,  who  all  his  life  seems  to  have  been 
of  a  singularly  gentle  nature,  partly  caused  perhaps 
by  bodily  delicacy — but  it  does  not  seem  that 
from  either  parent  can  Nelson  have  inherited  his 
fire  and  impetuosity,  another  proof  that  genius  is 
of  no  parentage,  or  comes  of  fusions  deeper  than 
we  can  fathom.  Mrs.  Nelson's  children  were  most 
of  them  so  young  when  they  lost  her — the  baby 
Catherine  would  not  remember  her  at  all — that 
the  general  absence  of  memory  and  tradition  of 
their  mother  among  them  is  not  surprising.  Hora- 
tio was  nine  years  old  when  she  died,  old  enough 
to  recall  her,  and  that  her  memory  was  impressed 
on  his  affections,  though  he  so  seldom  spoke  of  her, 
is  shown  in  the  tender  words  he  wrote  the  year 
before  his  own  death  :  "  The  thought  of  former 
days  brings  all  my  mother  to  my  heart,  which 
shows  itself  in  my  eyes."  A  sudden  little  flash  of 
his  mother  comes  out  when  expressing  his  dislike 
of  the  French  on  one  occasion  :  "  Forgive  me," 
he  said  to  his  correspondent,  "  but  my  mother 
hated  the  French." 

9 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

By  this  early  death  of  his  wife  the  Reverend 
Edmund  Nelson  was  left  with  a  large  young  family 
to  bring  up  and  care  for,  which  he  did  with  so 
much  unselfishness  and  wisdom  that  the  home 
circle  was  never  broken  by  disunion,  and  even 
when  the  children  were  all  grown  and  out  in  the 
world,  they  turned  back  in  thought  and  tenderness 
to  the  father  on  whom  the  benignancy  of  age  seems 
to  have  descended  early.  In  one  of  his  delightful 
letters — he  was  a  great  correspondent,  and  an  old- 
world  fragrance  and  simplicity  and  pleasure  in 
small  things  hangs  about  his  letters — he  modestly 
says  that  there  is  nothing  entertaining  or  valuable 
in  his  society,  "  except  a  willingness  to  make  my 
family  comfortable  when  near  me  and  not  un- 
mindfull  of  me  when  at  a  distance,  and  as  it  has 
fallen  to  my  Lott  to  take  upon  me  the  care  and 
affection  of  double  parent,  they  will  Herafter 
excuse  where  I  have  fallen  short  and  the  task 
has  been  too  Hard." 

The  manner  in  which  he  influenced  his  children 
is  shown  by  the  well-known  story  of  Horatio  and 
his  elder  brother  William  setting  off  to  school  one 
snowy  winter  morning  on  their  ponies  and  turning 
back — not  unnaturally  glad  to  escape  the  day's 
stint  of  learning — because  the  snow  was  so  deep 
they  could  not  well  go  on.  Hearing  this,  their 
father  said  to  them,  "  If  that  be  so,  I  have  of 
course  nothing  to  say  ;  but  I  wish  you  to  try  again, 
and  I  leave  it  to  your  honour  not  to  turn  back 
unless  necessary."  They  tried  again,  and  once 

10 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

more  the  bigger  brother  wished  to  turn  back,  but 
the  always  responsive  chord  had  been  struck  in 
the  small  Horatio's  heart  and  he  persisted  in  going 
on,  saying,  "  Remember  it  was  left  to  our  honour." 
There  are  other  similar  stories  of  Nelson's  youth 

—all  emphasising  the  trait  of  courage  and  love  of 
doing  what  others  dared  not.  When  a  mere  child 
he  strayed  from  home  with  a  cowherd,  both  of  the 
boys  intent  on  birds'  eggs.  His  absence  alarmed 
his  family,  who  searched  till  they  at  last  found 
him  sitting  contentedly  by  the  side  of  a  brook 
too  wide  for  him  to  cross.  His  grandmother  asked 
him  how  it  was  that  hunger  and  fear  had  not 
driven  him  home  ?  The  child  made  the  reply 
which  has  been  so  often  quoted  as  to  lose  its 
simple  naivety :  "  Fear  never  came  near  me, 
grandmamma. ' ' 

The  youthful  desire  for  bird's  eggs  led  to  another 
gmall  remembered  episode.  Horatio  one  evening 
was  searching  in  his  father's  wood  on  the  hillside 

—the  hillside  from  which  he  could  behold  the 
ocean — for  the  nest  of  a  rare  bird  he  believed  lived 
there,  but  before  he  had  discovered  the  bird  and 
the  nest,  his  nurse  Blackett  took  him  ruthlessly 
off  to  bed.  But  the  future  conqueror  of  the  Nile 
was  not  to  be  baffled  in  that  way,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  night  he  arose  (which  required  some  hardi- 
hood at  seven  years  old)  and  returned  to  the  wood. 
Perhaps  there  was  a  moon  to  aid  his  search,  for 
in  the  morning  he  was  discovered  fast  asleep 
beneath  the  tree  that  held  the  nest  of  his  desire. 

11 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Another  little  adventure  that  shows  his  nerves 
were  steady  was  his  going  to  the  churchyard — 
which  is  fully  a  mile  away  from  the  Rectory — at 
midnight  in  winter  and  bringing  back  with  him, 
as  proof  that  he  had  been  there,  a  bough  from  the 
yew-tree  which  stood  (and  still  stands)  at  the 
south-western  corner  of  the  church.  To  "  dare  " 
him  to  do  a  thing  was  enough,  as  his  school-fellows 
at  North  Walsham  discovered  and  turned  to  their 
own  advantage,  when  they  induced  him  to  slip 
out  from  the  dormitory  and  gather  the  pears  from 
their  master's  garden  which  they  dared  not  gather 
for  themselves.  Horatio  refused  to  eat  the  pears 
he  had  stolen,  saying  his  only  reason  for  getting 
them  was  that  "  every  other  boy  was  afraid."  As 
he  truty  said  of  himself  in  later  years,  "  I  know 
it  is  my  disposition,  that  difficulties  and  dangers 
do  but  increase  my  desire  of  attempting  them." 

All  these  little  stories  are  trivial  in  themselves, 
but  they  give  us  our  first  indications  of  the  trend 
of  his  character,  and  show  his  impetuosity  and 
high  spirit,  his  persistence,  and  the  earliest 
dawnings  of  that  love  of  glory  for  its  own  sake, 
unaccompanied  by  mere  material  rewards,  which 
was  so  deeply  marked  in  him  in  later  years. 

His  school  education  was  short.  He  was  first 
sent  to  the  Royal  Grammar  School  at  Norwich, 
within  the  precincts  and  under  the  very  shadow 
of  the  beautiful  Cathedral.  Here  learning  was 
imbibed  amid  aged  and  dignified  surroundings; 
the  very  schoolroom  where  the  young  Horatio 

12 


L. 


~ 
o 


H 
O 

fc 


o 


a 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

struggled  with  his  tasks  was  originally  the  chapel 
of  St.  John  the  Evangelist  and  is  a  noble  building, 
with  a  magnificent  fifteenth-century  door  and  stone 
staircase  leading  to  it,  through  which  the  boys 
came  reluctantly  to  lessons,  after  the  manner  of 
their  kind,  and  joyfully  rushed  forth.  A  few  years 
after  Nelson  was  a  scholar  there  the  City  Fathers 
of  Norwich  made  a  set  of  "  Rules,  Statutes,  and 
Ordinances  "  for  the  government  of  the  Grammar 
School,  and  like  the  Essays  of  Bacon  they  are  set 
forth  under  headings,  as 

"  Of  Cleanliness 

"  Every  Scholar  shall  come  decently  dressed, 
and  perfectly  clean,  both  as  to  Person  and 
Cloathes. 

"  Of  Correction 

"  No  scholar  shall  be  corrected,  or  reproved  in 
an  immoderate,  or  illiberal  Manner ;  and  no 
violent  Blows,  Kicks,  or  boisterous  Vociferation 
shall  be  used,  by  either  Master  or  Usher,  to  any 
of  the  Scholars  on  such  Occasion." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  the  sensitive  though  courageous 
Horatio  did  not  suffer  from  "  violent  Blows,  Kicks," 
by  these  humaner  rules  being  made  after  his  time. 
Anyway  his  sojourn  at  Norwich  was  short,  and 
from  there  he  was  removed  to  Sir  William  Paston's 
Grammar  School  at  North  Walsham.  The  school 
there  is  a  plain,  spacious,  homely  building,  situated 
in  a  beautiful  part  of  beautiful  Norfolk,  with 
winding  streams  and  deep  woods  and  airy  spaces 
of  heathland  surrounding  it.  From  North  Wal- 

13 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

sham  Nelson  went  to  sea  at  an  age  when  most 
boys  are  just  settling  down  to  their  studies. 
Traditions  of  his  school-life  are  necessarily  scanty, 
and  the  principal  memorial  he  left  behind  him  was 
a  brick  with  his  initials  cut  in  it.  About  this 
brick  Sir  Henry  Rider  Haggard  has  an  interesting 
reminiscence  in  his  Farmer's  Year.  In  1881,  just 
after  a  great  gale,  he  visited  North  Walsham  with 
his  father,  who 

"  Expressed  a  wish  to  look  over  the  grammar 
school,  which  he  had  not  seen  since  he  was  a  scholar 
there  as  a  little  boy,  some  sixty  years  before.  By 
the  wall  of  the  playground  grew  a  line  of  poplar- 
trees,  which  the  gale  I  have  spoken  of  had  thrown 
down,  so  that  they  lay  upon  the  wall,  whereof  all 
the  upper  part  was  destroyed  by  their  weight. 
Looking  at  this  curious  sight  brought  to  my  father's 
mind  the  recollection  that  there  was  a  brick  in 
this  wall  upon  which  Nelson,  who  was  also  a 
scholar  at  North  Walsham,  had  cut  his  initials. 
He  asked  those  who  were  showing  us  over  the 
school  about  this  brick,  but  no  one  seemed  to  know 
anything  of  it — indeed,  I  fancy  that  since  his  time 
the  tradition  of  the  thing  had  died  away.  But 
the  more  he  thought  of  it  the  more  positive  he 
became  of  its  existence,  and  as  he  expressed  a 
belief  that  he  could  find  it,  a  lantern  was  brought 
—for  the  autumn  evening  had  now  closed  in — by 
the  light  of  which  he  began  to  search  the  wall. 
And  there,  certainly,  he  found  the  brick  with  the 
weather-worn  initials  H.  N.  cut  upon  its  face. 

14 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

Curiously  enough,  although  this  particular  brick 
was  quite  uninjured,  one  of  the  fallen  trees  that 
rested  on  the  wall  had  ground  everything  about  it 
to  powder.  I  believe  that  it  has  now  been  taken 
from  its  place  and  is  preserved  in  the  schoolhouse." 

A  reminiscence  which  goes  further  back  is  given 
in  a  letter  written  by  Levett  Hansom  to  Lord 
Nelson  in  1802. 

"  For  these  many  months  past,"  he  writes,  "  I 
have  had  it  in  my  mind  to  show  to  my  acquaintance 
and  friends  a  letter  from  you,  and  thereby  to 
convince  them  I  had  once  the  pleasure  of  being 
your  schoolfellow,  and  have  now  the  honour  of 
being  considered  your  friend.  In  truth,  my  Lord, 
we  never  were  otherwise,  though  not  intimate. 

"  Your  Lordship,  though  in  the  second  class 
when  I  was  in  the  first,  were  five  years  my  junior, 
or  four  at  least,  and  at  that  period  of  life  such  a 
difference  in  point  of  age  is  considerable.  I  well 
remember  where  you  sat  in  the  schoolroom.  Your 
station  was  against  the  wall,  between  the  parlour 
door  and  the  chimney  :  the  latter  to  your  right. 
From  1769  to  1771  we  were  opposites  ...  As  a 
philosopher,  I  observe,  my  Lord,  with  great 
satisfaction,  that  your  honours  have  not  changed 
you." 

But  the  honours  were  yet  far  off  in  the  North 
Walsham  days,  and  all  his  toils  and  troubles  in 
front  of  the  slight  sensitive  boy  with  the  indomi- 
table mind.  The  step  which  was  to  lead  him  to 
sea  sprang  from  his  own  initiative,  not  so  much 

15 


from  any  particular  passion  for  the  sailor's  life,  ap- 
parently, as  from  an  anxious  wish  to  relieve  his 
father's   burdens.     When   Horatio's   mother   died 
in  1767,  her  brother,  Captain  Maurice  Suckling, 
had  visited  the  desolate  Parsonage,  and  seeing  so 
large  and  young  a  motherless  flock,  had  promised 
to  look  after  one  of  the  boys  and  help  him  to  a 
sea  career — but  it  was  evidently  not  the  rather 
delicate   Horatio   he   had   selected   in   his   mind. 
Some  years  had  gone  by,  and  during  the  Christmas 
holidays  of   1770  the  children  were  gathered  at 
the  Parsonage  House  at  Burnham  Thorpe,  though 
their  father,  owing  to  the  state  of  his  health,  was 
enjoying    the    milder    climate    of    Bath.     On    a 
memorable  day  Horatio  saw  in  the  county  news- 
paper that  his  uncle,  Captain  Suckling,  had  been 
appointed  to  the  Raisonable  of  64  guns.      At  once 
the  resolution  which  was  to  have  so  remarkable 
an  effect  upon    the  destinies  of  England   sprang 
full-formed  into  the  mind  of  this  lad  of  twelve. 
"  Do,"  he  said  to  his  brother  William,  "  write  to 
my  father  at  Bath,  and  tell  him  I  should  like  to 
go  with  Uncle  Maurice  to  sea."     At  first  Edmund 
Nelson  was  reluctant  to  yield  to  his  son's  wish, 
but  after  some  hesitation  he  wrote  to   Captain 
Suckling,  who  accepted  the  charge,  but  protested, 
"  What  has  poor  Horace  done,  who  is  so  weak, 
that  he  above  all  the  rest  should  be  sent  to  rougli 
it  out  at  sea  ?     But  let  him  come ;    and  the  first 
time  we  go  into  action,  a  cannon-ball  may  knock 
off  his  head,  and  provide  for  him  at  once." 

16 


NELSON'S    CLASSROOM   AT    THE   GRAMMAR    SCHOOL,    NORWICH. 


BURNHAM  THORPE 

But  the  Raisonable,  not  being  ready  for  sea, 
Nelson  returned  to  school  at  North  Walsham  after 
the  holidays  and  stayed  there  till,  in  the  early 
spring,  one  cold  dark  morning,  his  father's  servant 
came  to  fetch  him  away.  With  his  father  he  made 
the  long  journey  to  London,  and  was  then  put  in 
the  stage-coach  for  Chatham,  where  on  his  arrival 
he  was  left  to  find  his  way  alone  to  that  ship  which 
was  now  his  only  home.  His  uncle  and  captain 
did  not  arrive  till  several  days  later,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  kindness  of  an  officer  he  would 
have  been  very  forlorn.  The  reach  of  the  Medway, 
where  the  Raisonable  was  moored,  looking  across 
the  saltings,  is  somewhat  desolate  at  most  times, 
and  must  have  seemed  sadly  so  to  the  little  home- 
sick Nelson,  pitchforked  so  suddenly  into  the 
conditions  of  an  alien  life  and  with  Burnham  Thorpe 
and  the  comfortable  Parsonage  and  all  the  cheerful 
crowd  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  so  very  far  away. 

By  a  curious  coincidence  this  reach  of  the  river 
where  the  Raisonable  was  moored  is  close  to  the 
old  building  slip  where  Nelson's  Victory  was  built, 
and  in  the  churchyard  across  the  saltings  of 
Frindsbury  there  is  the  grave  of  one  of  the  Victory'' s 
gunners,  who  was  at  Trafalgar  and  survived  it, 
and  whose  tombstone  is  in  an  almost  direct  line 
with  the  slip  where  that  famous  line-of-battle  ship 
was  built  and  launched. 

And  so,  in  the  same  spot  on  that  historic  reach 
of  Medway,  both  Nelson  and  his  memorable  flag- 
ship were  launched  on  their  sea-career.  But 

17  c 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Norfolk  and  not  Kent  claims  him,  for  as  it  says 
in  Frere's  inscription  on  the  Nelson  column  at 
Yarmouth  :  "  The  soul  of  fire  that  inspired  that 
delicate  frame,  the  dauntless  daring,  the  profound 
skill,  as  well  as  the  gentle,  generous  nature  and 
humane  heart,  developed  gradually  in  the  little 
country  parsonage  standing  by  the  North  Sea 
side." 


18 


CHAPTER  II :   THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 


I 


next  decade  or  more  of  Nelson's  life 
is  purely  naval  and  concerned  with  his 
professional  duties,  with  his  early  steps 
up  the  ladder  of  promotion,  and  his  voyagings  in 
both  Arctic  and  tropic  seas.  His  acquaintance 
with  England  during  this  time  was  principally 
confined  to  her  coasts  and  seaports,  with  some 
small  experience  of  London,  for  as  he  says  himself 
in  the  Sketch  of  My  Life  which  he  wrote  in  1799, 
"  As  my  ambition  was  to  be  a  seaman,  it  was 
always  held  out  as  a  reward,  that  if  I  attended 
well  to  my  navigation,  I  should  go  in  the  cutter 
and  decked  long-boat,  which  was  attached  to  the 
commanding  officer's  ship  at  Chatham.  Thus 
by  degrees  I  became  a  good  pilot,  for  vessels  of 
that  description,  from  Chatham  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  down  the  Swin,  and  the  North  Foreland ; 
and  confident  of  myself  amongst  rocks  and  sands, 
which  has  many  times  since  been  of  great  comfort 
to  me." 

His  appearance  at  the  time  he  entered  the  Navy 
was  a  tribute  to  his  native  air,  for,  in  spite  of  some 
delicacy  of  constitution,  he  looked,  on  the  report 
of  one  of  his  superior  officers,  rather  stout  and 
athletic,  with  a  fresh,  florid  countenance.  But 

19 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

a  disorder  caught  in  the  Indies  so  affected  him 
that  for  a  time  he  lost  the  use  of  his  limbs,  and  was 
reduced  to  that  thinness  which  ever  after  charac- 
terised his  personal  appearance.  It  was  only  by 
being  brought  home  to  England  that  his  life  was 
saved,  and  it  was  on  this  return  voyage,  when 
weak  and  depressed,  that  he  had  the  memorable 
vision  he  confided  in  later  years  to  a  friend  while 
walking  amidst  the  lovely  scenery  of  Downton 
Castle,  in  Herefordshire.  The  words  are  well- 
known,  but  bear  re- quoting  : 

"  I  felt  impressed,"  the  great  Admiral  said, 
recalling  his  youthful  grief,  "  with  an  idea  that 
I  should  never  rise  in  my  profession.  My  mind 
was  staggered  with  a  view  of  the  difficulties  I  had 
to  surmount,  and  the  little  interest  I  possessed. 
I  could  discover  no  means  of  reaching  the  object 
of  my  ambition.  After  a  long  and  gloomy  reverie, 
in  which  I  almost  wished  myself  overboard,  a 
sudden  glow  of  patriotism  was  kindled  within  me, 
and  presented  my  king  and  country  as  my  patron. 
My  mind  exulted  in  the  idea.  *  Well  then,'  I 
exclaimed,  '  I  will  be  a  hero,  and,  confiding  in 
Providence,  I  will  brave  every  danger.'  :  From 
that  hour,  he  declared,  a  radiant  orb  was  suspended 
in  his  mind's  eye,  which  urged  him  onward  to 
renown. 

His  first  steps  towards  that  renown  he  so 
supremely  achieved  were  quite  ordinary  and  usual. 
He  passed  his  examination  for  lieutenant  in  April, 
1777,  six  years  after  entering  the  Navy.  At  the 

20 


PORTRAIT    OF    NELSON   AS    A    MIDSHIPMAN. 

In  posxesxiott  <>f  Lad;/  Llangattock. 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

head  of  the  examining  board  was  seated  his  uncle, 
Captain  Suckling,  now  Comptroller  of  the  Navy, 
who  had  purposely  concealed  his  relationship  from 
the  other  captains.  Young  Nelson  at  first  was 
somewhat  nervous,  but  soon  threw  off  his  con- 
fusion and  answered  so  well  and  ably  that  he  passed 
with  honours.  His  uncle  then  admitted  the 
relationship  to  the  board,  who  asked  why  they  had 
not  been  told  sooner.  "  No,"  said  Captain  Suck- 
ling, "  I  did  not  wish  the  younker  to  be  favoured  : 
I  felt  convinced  that  he  would  pass  a  good  exami- 
nation ;  and  you  see,  gentlemen,  I  have  not  been 
disappointed."  The  next  day  Nelson  was  ap- 
pointed as  second  lieutenant  to  the  Lowestoffe 
frigate,  and  thus  began  his  lifelong  friendship 
with  Captain  William  Locker.  Almost  imme- 
diately after  he  had  passed  for  lieutenant  Nelson's 
father  arrived  in  town  to  see  him,  and  the  new 
lieutenant  wrote  from  the  Navy  Office  to  his 
brother  William  that  he  was  now  left  in  the  world 
to  shift  for  himself,  "  which  I  hope  I  shall  do, 
so  as  to  bring  credit  to  myself  and  friends.  Am 
sorry  there  is  no  possibility  this  time  of  seeing 
each  other,  but  I  hope  that  time  will  come  in  a 
few  years,  when  we  will  spend  some  merry  hours 
together." 

The  Lowestoffe  was  fitting  out  at  Sheerness  for 
Jamaica,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  first  lieutenant 
Nelson  was  ordered  to  the  rendezvous  for  pressed 
men  near  the  Tower,  an  unpleasant  duty  to  his 
always  sympathetic  nature,  which  was  rendered 

21 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

doubly  trying  by  his  being  in  a  very  weak  and 
wretched  state  of  health.  It  is  recorded  that 
while  on  duty  near  the  Tower  one  cold  night  he 
fainted  dead  away,  and  a  comrade  who  was  with 
him  had  to  carry  him  on  his  back  to  the  rendezvous, 
where  he  was  an  alarmingly  long  time  in  returning 
to  consciousness.  Nelson's  life  contains  pictures 
so  poignant  and  so  brilliant  that  this  little  one  of 
the  young  unknown  lieutenant  fainting  from  cold 
and  weakness  on  Tower  Hill  is  generally  over- 
looked. 

After  three  years'  service  in  an  arduous  climate 
in  the  Lowestoffe,  the  Badger,  the  Hinchinbrook, 
and  the  Janus,  Nelson's  health  again  broke  down, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  write  in  August,  1780,  to 
his  friend  and  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  Peter 
Parker,  saying,  "  the  faculty  having  informed  me 
that  I  cannot  recover  in  this  climate ;  I  am 
therefore  to  request  that  you  will  be  pleased  to 
permit  me  to  go  to  England  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  my  health." 

Sir  Peter  and  Lady  Parker  had  been  very  good 
to  Nelson  in  Jamaica,  and  when  he  reached 
London  he  was  nursed  at  their  house  for  some 
time  before  he  was  fit  to  continue  his  journey  to 
Bath,  which  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  the 
resort  of  all  sufferers.  Captain  Cornwallis,  who 
had  brought  him  home  in  the  Lion,  sent  an  account 
of  his  condition  to  his  father  and  begged  him  to 
come  up  from  Burnham  Thorpe  that  he  might 
accompany  his  son  on  the  tedious  progress  to 

22 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

Bath.  In  1780  the  stage-coaches  took  three  days 
between  London  and  Bath,  for  it  was  not  till  four 
years  later  that  John  Palmer  started  the  mail- 
coaches  which  covered  the  hundred  odd  miles  in 
fourteen  hours. 

Nelson's  address  at  Bath  was  "  Mr.  Spry's, 
Pierrepont  Street,  Bath,"  and  from  there  he  wrote 
in  January  to  Captain  Locker,  telling  of  his  troubles 
and  his  progress : 

"  I  must  crave  your  pardon  for  not  having 
wrote  to  you  before  this,  but  I  know  you  will 
readily  believe  the  reason  was  inability  ;  for  I 
have  been  so  ill  since  I  have  been  here,  that  I  was 
obliged  to  be  carried  to  and  from  bed,  with  the 
most  excruciating  tortures,  but,  thank  God,  I  am 
now  upon  the  mending  hand.  I  am  physicked 
three  times  a  day,  drink  the  waters  three  times, 
and  bathe  every  other  night,  besides  drinking  wine, 
which  I  think  the  worst  of  all." 

Five  days  later  he  wrote  again  to  Captain  Locker, 
although  admitting  that  in  spite  of  being  much 
better  he  was  scarcely  able  to  hold  his  pen.  He 
was  longing  for  a  ship,  "  for  as  you  will  suppose 
I  do  not  set  under  the  hands  of  a  doctor  very  easy, 
although  I  give  myself  credit  this  once  for  having 
done  everything,  and  taken  every  medecine  that 
was  ordered,  that  Dr.  Woodward,  who  is  my 
Physician,  said  he  never  had  a  better  patient." 
This  doctor  seems,  even  in  these  early  days,  to 
have  come  under  the  spell  of  Nelson's  lovable 
personality,  for  his  fees  were  so  small  that  Nelson 

23 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

wished  to  increase  them,  whereupon  the  good 
doctor  said,  "  Pray,  Captain  Nelson,  allow  me  to 
follow  what  I  consider  to  be  my  professional  duty. 
Your  illness,  sir,  has  been  brought  on  by  serving 
your  King  and  country,  and  believe  me,  I  love 
both  too  well  to  be  able  to  receive  any  more." 

Nelson  had  been  suffering  from  a  return  of  that 
partial  paralysis  which  had  before  afflicted  him, 
in  both  cases  brought  on  by  the  bad  climate  of 
the  East  and  West  Indies.  But  the  air  and  waters 
of  Bath  and  the  ministrations  of  Dr.  Woodward 
enabled  him  to  say  with  awkward  cheerfulness, 
"  Although  I  have  not  quite  recovered  the  use  of 
my  limbs,  yet  my  inside  is  a  new  man." 

But  how  bad  he  had  been  is  shown  by  his  writing 
three  weeks  later,  "  My  health,  thank  God,  is 
very  near  perfectly  restored ;  and  I  have  the 
perfect  use  of  all  my  limbs,  except  my  left  arm, 
which  I  can  hardly  tell  what  is  the  matter  with  it. 
From  the  shoulder  to  my  fingers'  ends  are  as  if 
half  dead  ;  but  the  surgeon  and  Doctors  give  me 
hopes  it  will  all  go  off."  Even  when  he  felt  he 
was  really  recovered  he  stayed  on  some  weeks 
longer  to  avoid  the  cold,  from  which  he  shrank 
in  his  weakened  state,  for  Bath  "  is  like  Jamaica 
to  any  other  part  of  England." 

He  refers  in  this  same  letter  to  the  portrait 
Rigaud  had  painted  of  him,  though  when  and 
where  the  sittings  had  been  given  is  not  stated, 
but  at  some  time  before  his  illness  seems  probable, 
for  he  says,  "  As  to  my  picture,  it  will  not  be  the 

24 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

least  like  what  I  am  now,  that  is  certain  ;  but  you 
may  tell  Mr.  Rigaud  to  add  beauty  to  it,  and  it 
will  be  much  mended." 

This  portrait  is  the  earliest  satisfactory  one 
we  have  of  Nelson,  and  therefore  of  particular 
interest.  It  is  three-quarter  length,  and  shows 
him  standing,  slender  and  confident,  with  both 
hands  crossed  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword — possibly 
that  sword  which  his  uncle  Captain  Suckling  had 
given  him  with  the  injunction  never  to  part  with 
it  while  he  had  life.  Nelson  certainly  valued 
this  sword  very  highly,  and  used  it  at  St.  Vincent 
and  Teneriffe,  where  he  lost  his  arm,  as  the 
original  owner  of  the  sword,  Admiral  Walpole, 
Captain  Suckling's  godfather,  had  also  lost  his  in 
1711.  There  is  much  charm  in  Nelson's  face  in 
this  portrait,  and  his  suggestion  that  Rigaud 
should  "  add  beauty  "  to  it  does  not  seem  par- 
ticularly needed.  His  eyes,  very  level  and  steady 
in  their  gaze  from  under  the  wide  cocked  hat, 
the  sensitive,  slightly  pouting  mouth — all  have  the 
unmistakeable  Nelson  look.  Very  few  people 
pause  to  consider  how  unusual  his  face  was,  even 
»*?  these  years  when  he  was  so  young,  unscarred 
and  unsung.  In  all  the  long  gallery  of  the  English 
admirals  there  is  no  single  face  like  his — especially 
as  he  looked  in  his  later  years,  when  portraits 
and  memory  make  him  most  familiar. 

A  little  earlier  than  his  references  to  Rigaud's 
portrait,  his  first  biographers,  Clarke  and  M' Arthur, 
had  written : 

25 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

"  The  personal  appearance  of  Captain  Nelson 
at  this  period  of  his  life,  owing  to  his  delicate 
health  and  diminutive  figure,  was  far  from  express- 
ing the  greatness  of  his  intellectual  powers.  .  .  . 
The  demeanour  of  this  extraordinary  young  man 
was  entirely  the  demeanour  of  a  British  seaman  ; 
when  the  energies  of  his  mind  were  not  called  forth 
by  some  object  of  duty,  or  professional  interest, 
he  seemed  to  retire  within  himself,  and  to  care 
but  little  for  the  refined  courtesies  of  polished 
life.  In  his  dress  he  had  all  the  cleanliness  of  an 
Englishman,  though  his  manner  of  wearing  it 
gave  him  an  air  of  negligence ;  and  yet  his 
general  address  and  conversation,  when  he 
wished  to  please,  possessed  a  charm  that  was 
irresistible." 

There  is  a  quite  unconscious  humour  in  parts 
of  this  description,  and  yet  its  truth  in  the  main 
points  is  sufficiently  borne  out  by  other  con- 
temporaty  evidence  to  make  it  valuable. 

When  he  had  finally  fixed  his  departure  from 
Bath,  he  wrote  to  Captain  Locker  that,  as  it  would 
be  too  late  on  his  arrival  in  London  to  go  out  to 
his  uncle  at  Kentish  Town,  "  I  will,  if  you  have 
a  spare  bed,  and  nobody  to  occupy  it,  sleep  that 
night,  if  you  will  give  me  leave,  at  your  house." 
Hearing,  however,  that  his  friend  was  at  Sidmonton 
Place,  near  Newbury,  in  Berkshire,  staying  with 
Captain  Kingsmill,  he  declared  that  as  he  himself 
would  be  at  Newbury  on  his  journey  to  town, 
"  I  will  do  myself  the  pleasure  of  visiting  Sidmonton 

26 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

Place,  according  to  Captain  KingsmuTs  very 
civil  invitation." 

When  he  reached  London  he  stayed  with  his 
uncle,  William  Suckling,  at  Kentish  Town,  which 
in  1781  was  a  pretty  rural  neighbourhood.  Bui 
in  spite  of  quiet  and  country  air  he  had  a  bad 
relapse.  From  Kentish  Town  he  wrote  to  his 
brother  William,  "  You  will  say,  Why  does  not  he 
eome  into  Norfolk  ?  I  will  tell  you :  I  have 
entirely  lost  the  use  of  my  left  arm,  and  very  near 
of  my  left  leg  and  thigh,  and  am  at  present  under 
the  care  of  a  Mr.  Adair,  an  eminent  surgeon  in 
London  ;  but  he  gives  me  hopes  a  few  weeks  will 
remove  my  disorder,  when  I  will  certainly  come 
into  Norfolk,  and  spend  my  time  there  till  I  am 
employed."  His  thoughtfulness  comes  out:  "When 
you  write  to  my  father  do  not  mention  my  com- 
plaints, for  I  know  it  will  make  him  very  uneasy, 
and  can  do  no  good." 

In  spite  of  his  bad  health  he  was  industrious 
in  his  applications  at  the  Admiralty  for  a  ship, 
and  in  August  was  given  the  Albemarle,  a  28-gun 
frigate.  He  went  down  to  Woolwich  to  hoist 
his  Pendant,  and  wrote  with  delight  to  his  brother 
of  her  beauty.  The  desire  came  upon  him  to  have 
Norfolk  men  in  his  ship's  company,  for  he  said  on 
one  occasion  that  he  always  reckoned  one  Norfolk 
man  as  good  as  two  others ;  and  he  suggests  to 
William  Nelson  that  some  of  his  papers  and  other 
things  should  be  sent  to  him  by  some  vessel 
sailing  from  the  little  Norfolk  port  of  Wells,  which 

27 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

is  about  five  miles  distant  from  Burnham  Thorpe, 
and  that  if  there  were  any  Norfolk  men  who 
would  like  to  go  to  sea  with  him  they  might  come 
that  way  too.  In  a  later  letter  he  says  :  "  I  have 
got  John  Oliver,  belonging  to  Wells,  and  have 
made  him  a  Quarter-master ;  he  is  a  very  good 
man."  In  a  postscript  he  adds,  "  Compliments 
to  the  Wells'  Club,  and  all  friends  in  Norfolk." 

Nelson,  the  young  Captain  of  the  Albemarle 
(he  was  now  only  twenty- three  years  old),  was 
very  different  to  the  child  of  thirteen  who,  ten  years 
earlier,  had  left  the  rural  seclusion  of  Burnham 
Thorpe  to  embark  on  his  naval  career.  But  in 
one  respect  he  was  quite  unchanged,  and  remained 
so  to  the  end  of  his  life :  his  heart  was  always  warm 
towards  his  home-county  and  his  enquiries  after 
Norfolk  people  and  Norfolk  news  are  constant 
and  kind. 

On  January  25,  1782,  he  wrote  to  his  brother 
from  Deal,  the  little  Kent  fishing  port  which  in 
later  years  was  to  have  such  poignant  associations 
for  him  in  connection  with  that  dearly-loved 
officer  of  his,  Lieutenant  Edward  Parker.  But 
on  this  first  occasion  of  his  writing  from  Deal 
he  seems  to  have  been  in  a  rather  bad  temper, 
vexed  that  he  has  been  called  on  shore,  and  had 
left  the  letter  he  had  previously  written  to  his 
brother  on  board  ;  "  but  I  was  determined,  as  I  had 
half  an  hour  on  dry  land,  to  make  some  use  of  it  " 
by  writing  another.  He  says  in  his  next  letter 
that  the  Downs  station  is  "  a  horrid  bad  one." 

28 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

Many  of  his  letters  at  this  time  are  addressed  to 
his  brother  William,  who  had  entered  the  Church. 
Reference  to  his  brother's  clerical  hopes  drew 
from  Nelson  the  following  somewhat  curious 
remarks  :  "I  wish  I  could  congratulate  you  upon 
a  Rectory  instead  of  a  Vicarage :  it  is  rather 
awkward  wishing  the  poor  man  dead,  but  we  all 
rise  by  deaths.  I  got  my  rank  by  a  shot  killing 
a  Post-Captain,  and  I  most  sincerely  hope  I  shall, 
when  I  go,  go  out  of  the  world  the  same  way  ; 
then  we  go  all  in  the  line  of  our  Profession — a 
Parson  praying,  a  Captain  fighting." 

Of  the  latter  Nelson  got  little  chance  during  his 
time  in  the  Albemarle,  as  he  was  largely  employed 
in  convoy  duty,  but  when  he  was  on  the  North 
American  station  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
obtain  the  favourable  attention  of  Lord  Hood, 
and  was  transferred  to  his  squadron.  In  a  sense 
this  was  the  beginning  of  his  brilliant  career,  for 
Nelson  in  a  remarkable  degree  had  the  quality 
of  attracting  the  favour  of  just  the  men  who  were 
most  necessary  to  him.  He  was  able  to  inspire 
not  only  his  subordinates  but  his  official  superiors 
with  confidence.  As  a  brother  captain  was  later 
to  say  to  him,  "  You  did  just  as  you  pleased  in 
Lord  Hood's  time,  the  same  in  Admiral  Hotham's, 
and  now  again  with  Sir  John  Jervis  ;  it  makes  no 
difference  to  you  who  is  commander-in-chief." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Prince  William  Henry, 
then  a  midshipman  in  Hood's  flagship,  saw  Nelson 
for  the  first  time,  and  described  him  as  "  the 

29 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

merest  boy  of  a  captain  I  ever  beheld,"  wearing 
"  a  full-laced  uniform  :  his  lank  unpowdered  hair 
was  tied  in  a  stiff  Hessian  tail  of  an  extraordinary 
length  ;  the  old-fashioned  flaps  of  his  waistcoat 
added  to  the  general  quaintness  of  his  figure." 
But  though  the  smart  midshipman  may  have 
criticised  Nelson's  old-fashioned  uniform,  he  said, 
like  so  many  others,  "  there  was  something 
irresistibly  pleasing  in  his  address  and  conversa- 
tion." 

The  Albemarle  returned  to  England,  bearing 
despatches  from  Lord  Hood,  whose  fleet  followed 
after,  in  June,  1783.  She  was  paid  off,  and  Captain 
Nelson  remained  on  half-pay  till  April  of  the 
following  year.  He  went  first,  after  leaving 
Portsmouth,  to  lodgings  at  No.  3,  Salisbury 
Street,  Strand ;  from  there  he  wrote  to  Captain 
Locker  :  "  My  time,  ever  since  I  arrived  in  town, 
has  been  taken  up  in  attempting  to  get  the  wages 
due  to  my  good  fellows,  for  various  ships  they  have 
served  in  the  war."  He  told  Locker  that  the  day 
before  Lord  Hood  had  carried  him  to  St.  James's, 
"  where  the  King  was  exceedingly  attentive," 
and  that  he  was  to  go  to  Windsor  to  take  leave  of 
Prince  William  Henry.  He  adds  that  "  London 
is  exceedingly  hot :  I  shall  fly  to  the  country  as 
soon  as  I  can  settle  my  little  matters." 

After  his  first  visit  to  Court  and  his  first  words 
with  that  King,  George  III.,  who  always  repre- 
sented so  much  to  his  loyal  heart,  Nelson  went  to 
dine  and  talk  over  his  impressions  with  his  life- 

30 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

long  friend  Alexander  Davison  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 
On  arriving,  he  at  once  threw  off  what  he  called 
his  "  iron-bound  coat,"  and  begged  for  a  dressing- 
gown  in  which  to  take  his  ease  after  the  rigidities 
of  Court  etiquette,  which  cannot  but  have  been 
somewhat  alarming  to  a  man  so  young  and  so 
unused  to  it  as  he  was — no  vision  of  the  time 
when  he  was  to  be  the  idol  and  the  saviour  of  a 
foreign  Court,  and  presented  with  diamonds  and 
dukedoms,  disturbed  his  easeful  hour. 

His  health  seems  to  have  given  way  again,  for 
writing  to  his  brother  from  Salisbury  Street  on 
July  23rd,  he  says  that  "  last  night "  he  was 
"  agreeably  surprised  with  the  company  of  Mr. 
Bolton  and  Maurice  "  —Maurice  being  his  brother 
and  Mr.  Bolton  the  husband  of  his  elder  sister 
Susanna — "  who  was  so  good  as  to  spend  an  hour 
with  an  invalid.  A  few  days,  however,  I  hope 
will  allow  me  to  get  out  of  my  room  :  and  as  soon 
as  I  get  a  little  strength  I  propose  spending  a 
short  time  in  Norfolk." 

He  was  kept  in  his  room  for  a  fortnight,  however, 
and  then  went  first  to  his  uncle's  house  at  Kentish 
Town,  "  to  breathe  a  little  fresh  air."  He  had 
received  a  pressing  invitation  from  a  brother 
officer  to  stay  with  him  at  Caroline  Park,  near 
Edinburgh,  but  declined  it,  as  he  had  not  seen  his 
relations  and  felt  that  he  must  go  to  Burnham 
Thorpe.  Business  and  the  endeavour  to  intercede 
with  the  Admiralty  for  a  lieutenant  in  distress 
about  his  promotion — generosity  and  helpfulness 

31 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

were  always  strong  in  him — delayed  his  departure 
from  London  till  August  20th,  but  on  that  day  he 
wrote  a  hurried  little  note  to  his  brother  William  : 
'*  Places  were  taken  in  the  Lynn  diligence  this 
morning  for  Maurice  and  me.  By  the  time  you 
get  this,  most  probably  we  shall  be  at  Burnham." 
So  Captain  Nelson  returned  to  his  birthplace 
and  found  it  altered  not  at  all,  except  that  probably 
everything  looked  smaller  to  his  eyes,  which  had 
grown  used  in  the  interval  to  wide  sea  spaces,  to 
the  towering  canvas  of  a  fleet  of  battleships,  to 
the  broad  vistas  of  Canada  and  the  New  World. 
But  probably  the  most  impressive  thing  about 
him  to  his  immediate  family  and  the  villagers 
would  be  that  he  had  been  presented  to  the  King, 
who  was  so  distant  and  far-off  from  this  corner 
of  rural  Norfolk.  We  can  imagine  the  pride  which 
would  fill  his  gentle  father's  heart  at  this  distinc- 
tion, and  the  half-teasing  admiration  his  sister 
Catherine,  now  grown  into  a  pretty  and  lively 
young  woman,  would  bestow  upon  him.  Most  of 
his  family  would  be  at  home,  or  within  reach, 
for  though  his  eldest  sister  Susanna  had  married 
Thomas  Bolton  three  years  before,  she  was  only 
living  at  Wells,  which  is  within  walking  distance 
of  Burnham  Thorpe.  There  was  another  sister 
at  home  besides  Catherine,  the  poor  Ann,  who 
was  to  die  in  the  autumn  of  that  very  year  at 
Bath,  from  a  chill  caught  in  coming  out  of  a  ball- 
room immediately  after  dancing.  Of  brothers 
Captain  Nelson  would  also  find  plenty  to  welcome 

32 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

him — Maurice,  his  eldest  brother,  who  was  a  clerk 
in  the  Navy  Office,  he  had  brought  down  with 
him  ;  and  William,  whose  character  was  probably 
the  least  amiable  and  admirable  of  all  the  Nelson 
family — even  when  a  child  he  always  succeeded 
in  getting  "  the  biggest  Norfolk  dumpling  "  for 
his  own  consumption — had  become  Rector  of 
Little  Brandon.  The  two  remaining  brothers, 
Edmund  and  Suckling,  were  not  made  of  the  same 
prosperous  stuff  as  William,  and  remained  more 
or  less  at  home  during  their  comparatively  short 
lives. 

But  the  heart  of  Horatio  Nelson — or  Horace, 
as  he  was  commonly  called  in  his  family  circle- 
was  warm  to  them  all,  though  there  is  no  doubt 
he  had  a  peculiar  fondness  for  his  unassuming 
eldest  brother  Maurice  and  for  his  sister  Catherine, 
or  Kitty  as  she  was  more  fittingly  named,  in  ac- 
cordance with  her  lively  nature.  But  there  is  no 
sign  of  anything  but  sincere  affection  in  Nelson's 
considerable  correspondence  with  William,  and 
he  never  seems  to  have  resented,  or  even  been 
conscious  of,  the  way  in  which  his  clerical  brother 
made  use  of  his  influence  and  generosity  in  later 
years. 

On  this  visit  the  family  harmony  was  entirely 
undisturbed,  for  Nelson  had  not  then  brought 
in  the  alien  element  in  the  shape  of  the  wife  he 
was  to  introduce  the  next  time  he  came  to  Burn- 
ham  Thorpe.  As  he  had  the  happy  faculty,  like 
his  father,  of  interesting  himself  in  small  things, 

33  D 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

and  even  when  much  bigger  affairs  claimed  his 
mind  enjoyed  news  of  his  Norfolk  neighbours, 
it  may  be  imagined  how  he  occupied  himself  in 
visiting  them  all,  not  forgetting  his  faithful  nurse 
Blackett,  and  telling  them  of  all  the  places  and 
people  he  had  seen  in  "  foreign  parts."  In  one 
of  his  letters  of  a  later  date  the  Reverend  Edmund 
Nelson  had  gently  hinted  that  news  was  welcome 
in  Burnham  Thorpe,  as  "  a  small  party  of  Recluses 
are  sometimes  at  a  stand  for  Chatt."  But  nobody, 
in  either  Parsonage  or  village,  would  be  "  at  a  stand 
for  Chatt  "  while  Captain  Nelson  was  there,  even 
though  his  deeds  at  that  time  did  not  provide 
material  for  world- wide  comment. 

One  of  the  small  happenings  of  this  time  in 
which  he  would  naturally  take  an  interest  would 
be  the  erection  of  the  new  pulpit  in  his  father's 
church.  In  the  Register,  under  the  date  of  1783, 
is  written  by  the  Rev.  Edmund  Nelson  :  "  The 
new  pulpitt  putt  up  this  year.  The  oak  was 
given  by  Lord  Walpole,  and  the  sawing  out  of  the 
planks  £2  12s.  All  the  other  expense  was  solely 
by  Edm.  Nelson,  Rector,  which  was  near  fourty 
pounds.  N.B.  The  oak  grew  in  this  parish."  * 

From  this  pulpit  Nelson  in  later  years  often 
heard  his  father  preach,  and  from  his  hand  received 
the  Holy  Communion  ;  the  chalice,  which  is  still 


*  This  pulpit  no  longer  exists,  a  more  modern  one  standing  in  its  place, 
but  some  of  the  oak  of  the  old  pulpit  has  been  rescued  by  the  present 
Rector,  the  Rev.  H.  Eliott-Drake  Briscoe,  and  made  into  a  very  fine  chest, 
which  stands  in  the  church. 

34 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

in  use,  bearing  the  date  1663  and  the  inscription, 
"  For  the  town  of  Burnham  Thorpe." 

Within  easy  reach  of  Burnham  Thorpe  is  Hoik- 
ham  Hall,  the  home  in  Nelson's  time  of  that  great 
Englishman  and  princely  agriculturalist,  Thomas 
William  Coke.  There  was  only  four  years'  differ- 
ence in  age  between  Coke  and  Nelson,  Coke  being 
the  elder,  but  the  difference  between  their  rank 
and  fortunes,  at  the  time  Nelson  was  most  at 
Burnham  Thorpe,  prevented  any  intimacy,  though 
they  met  and  knew  each  other — and  in  the  years 
after  Trafalgar  to  have  known  Nelson  was  natur- 
ally a  proud  boast  to  "  Coke  of  Norfolk."  One 
of  Nelson's  amusements  during  his  times  on  shore 
was  that  sport,  which  the  eighteenth  century  was 
not  sufficiently  sensitive  to  regard  as  cruel,  of 
coursing.  He  used  constantly  to  join  Mr.  Coke's 
hounds  when  they  were  out,  though  there  were 
times  when  he  found  this  exercise  too  much  for 
his  weakened  frame.  "  It  was  not  my  intention 
to  have  gone  to  the  coursing  meeting,"  he  wrote 
on  one  occasion,  "  for,  to  say  the  truth,  I  have 
rarely  escaped  a  wet  jacket  and  a  violent  cold. 
Besides,  to  me,  even  the  ride  to  the  Smee  is  longer 
than  any  pleasure  I  find  in  the  sport  can  compen- 
sate for." 

His  prowess  in  other  forms  of  sport  was  not 
remarkable  ;  he  was  so  poor  a  shot  that  only  once 
did  he  succeed  in  killing  a  partridge.  He  had 
all  a  sailor's  carelessness,  and  as  he  always  carried 
his  gun  ready  cocked  and  shot  at  random  and 

35 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

excitably,  he  must  have  been  a  somewhat  dangerous 
sporting  companion. 

Of  the  first  meeting  between  Coke  and  Nelson 
in  this  same  year  of  1783,  Mrs.  Stirling  has  given 
a  vivid  picture  in  her  biography  of  "  Coke  of 
Norfolk  "  : 

"  One  morning,  when  Coke  was  seated  in  his 
study  writing,  he  was  told  that  Captain  Nelson 
wished  to  see  him,  in  order  to  make  his  declaration 
for  half-pay  as  a  Commander.  Nelson,  at  that 
time,  had  just  been  presented  to  the  King,  and 
was  known  to  Coke  only  as  a  creditable  young  man 
of  very  average  ability  ;  no  premonition  crossed 
Coke's  mind  that,  in  the  spare,  fragile  youth  of 
five-and-twenty,  who  a  moment  later  entered  his 
study,  he  was  welcoming  a  man  whom  posterity 
would  acclaim  as  one  of  England's  greatest  heroes. 
And  could  any  onlooker,  knowing  that  future, 
have  witnessed  this  interview,  it  might  have 
seemed  incredible  that,  of  the  two  men  before  him, 
any  word,  any  action  of  the  apparently  unimport- 
ant visitor  would  be  treasured  by  posterity,  while 
the  memory  of  his  host  would  be  all  but  consigned 
to  oblivion.  For  at  that  date,  while  Coke,  al- 
though only  four  years  young  Nelson's  senior, 
was  already  acknowledged  by  his  generation  as  a 
man  of  mark  and  the  benefactor  of  his  species, 
Nelson  was  still  unknown  to  fame ;  and  thus 
confronted,  the  two  young  men  must  have  pre- 
sented a  curious  contrast,  in  which  physically 
as  well  as  socially,  and,  apparently,  mentally, 

36 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

Nelson  was  at  a  disadvantage.  Undersized  and 
insignificant  in  appearance,  weak  in  health,  nervous 
in  temperament  and  poor  in  circumstances,  he 
could  boast  as  yet  little  achieved  in  the  present, 
and  less  prospect  for  the  future,  save  what  lay 
unguessed  in  his  own  keen  brain  and  indomitable 
pluck. 

*  Yet,  little  over  twenty  years  later,  the  chair 
in  which  he  then  sat  was  looked  upon  by  Coke  as 
one  of  the  most  prized  possessions  amongst  all 
the  treasures  of  Holkham,  and  a  humble  turret 
bedroom  which  he  had  occupied  as  Coke's  guest 
was  adorned  with  his  portrait  and  proudly  known 
as  '  Nelson's  room.'  : 

By  the  beginning  of  October  Nelson  was  back 
again  in  London,  at  his  old  lodgings  in  Salisbury 
Street,  and  writing  from  there  to  the  Admiralty 
requesting  six  months'  leave  of  absence  to  go  to 
France  "  on  my  private  occasions."  His  restless 
mind  was  suddenly  smitten  with  the  desire  to  learn 
French,  as  the  Peace  left  him  with  nothing  par- 
ticular to  do — but  the  desire  is  somewhat  odd, 
coupled  with  his  creed,  which,  as  he  bluntly  put 
it,  was  to  "  hate  a  Frenchman  as  you  do  the  Devil." 
However,  to  France  he  went,  by  way  of  Canter- 
bury and  Dover,  and  highly  disgusted  with  it 
did  he  seem  when  he  got  there.  Of  Marquise  he 
wrote,  "  Here  we  were  shown  into  an  inn — they 
called  it — I  should  have  called  it  a  pigstye  :  we 
were  shown  into  a  room  with  two  straw  beds, 
and,  with  great  difficulty,  they  mustered  up  clean 

37 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

sheets  ;  and  gave  us  two  pigeons  for  supper,  upon 
a  dirty  cloth,  and  wooden-handled  knives " — 
and  he  adds  with  all  the  emphasis  of  underlining, 
"  O  what  a  transition  from  happy  England" 

Though  he  contrived  to  spend  some  tolerably 
contented  weeks  in  the  English  society  of  St.  Omer 
—where,  as  he  wrote,  he  was  as  happy  as  he  could 
be,  separated  from  his  native  country — and  came 
perilously  near  losing  his  heart  to  the  charming 
daughter  of  an  English  clergyman  there,  he  did 
not  succeed  in  learning  much  French  and  could 
only  say,  when  he  returned,  with  a  somewhat 
petulant  vehemence,  "  I  hate  their  country  and 
their  manners." 

It  was  while  he  was  at  St.  Omer  that  his  young 
sister  Ann  died  at  Bath.  To  his  brother  at  Burn- 
ham  he  wrote  of  this  "  shocking  event  "  :  "  My 
surprise  and  grief  upon  the  occasion  are,  you  will 
suppose,  more  to  be  felt  than  described.  What  is 
to  become  of  poor  Kate  ?  Although  I  am  very 
fond  of  Mrs.  Bolton  [his  married  sister],  yet  I  own 
I  should  not  like  to  see  Kate  fixed  in  a  Wells' 
society.  For  God's  sake  write  what  you  have  heard 
of  our  Father.  I  am  in  astonishment  at  not  having 
heard  from  him,  or  of  him  by  Mr.  Suckling.  If 
such  an  event  was  to  take  place,  for  with  his  deli- 
cate constitution  I  do  not  think  it  unlikely,  I 
shall  immediately  come  to  England,  and  most 
probably  fix  in  some  place  that  might  be  most  for 
poor  Kitty's  advantage.  My  small  income  shall 
always  be  at  her  service,  and  she  shall  never 

38 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

want   a    protector  and  a  sincere  friend  while   I 
exist." 

In  January,  1784,  Nelson  was  back  in  London, 
and  from  his  letters,  written  again  from  Salisbury 
Street,  some  account  can  be  gathered  of  his  doings. 
He  declares  that  his  time  has  been  so  much  engaged 
"  by  running  at  the  ring  of  pleasure,  that  I  have 
almost  neglected  all  my  friends  ; — for  London  has 
so  many  charms  that  a  man's  time  is  wholly  taken 
up."  He  had  been  to  see  Lord  Howe  to  ask  for  a 
ship  ;  he  had  dined  with  his  friend  Hercules  Ross  ; 
and  also  with  Lord  Hood,  "  who  expressed  the 
greatest  friendship  for  me,  that  his  house  was 
always  open  to  me,  and  that  the  oftener  I  came 
the  happier  it  would  make  him."  But  these 
festivities  did  not  suit  him,  for  he  confessed,  "  I 
caught  a  violent  cold  upon  my  first  arrival  in 
England,  which  probably  I  should  have  got  clear 
of,  had  I  not  been  fool  enough  to  have  danced 
attendance  at  St.  James's  yesterday,  where  I 
increased  my  cold,  till  it  has  brought  on  a  fever, 
so  much  that  I  was  obliged  to  send  for  Dr. Warren." 
So  soon  as  he  had  recovered  he  set  out  for  Bath 
to  see  his  father,  and  from  there  wrote  to  his 
brother :  "  I  am  happy  I  can  say  that  our  Father 
never  was  so  well  since  I  can  remember  ;  he  is 
grown  quite  lusty.  His  cheeks  are  so  much 
plumped  out,  that  I  thought  they  had  been  vio- 
lently swelled  when  I  first  saw  him,  but  it  is  all 
solid  flesh.  He  gets  up  to  breakfast,  eats  supper, 
and  never  retires  till  after  ten.  Keep  his  mind  at 

39 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

rest,  and  I  do  not  fear  that  he  will  live  these  many 
years."  He  says,  "  Poor  little  Kate  is  learning 
to  ride,  that  she  may  be  no  trouble  to  us.  She 
is  a  charming  young  woman,  and  possesses  a  great 
share  of  sense."  For  himself,  he  proposes  returning 
to  the  Continent  "  till  autumn,  when  I  shall  bring 
a  horse,  and  stay  the  winter  at  Burnham." 

Both  of  these  proposals  were  upset,  however, 
by  his  being  given  the  command  of  the  Boreas, 
that  frigate  with  which  his  early  name  is  so  much 
associated.  He  writes  to  tell  Captain  Locker  of 
this  appointment  from  a  new  London  address, 
3,  Lancaster  Court,  Strand,  and  also  says  he  has 
been  suffering  from  an  ague  and  fever  which  has 
"  pulled  me  down  most  astonishingly."  All  his 
life  Nelson  suffered  distressingly  from  the  minor 
physical  ailments :  colds,  toothache,  rheumatism, 
and,  not  least,  sea-sickness,  were  his  constant 
plagues,  quite  apart  from  the  wounds  he  got  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  But  his  spirit  surmounted 
them  all,  and  if  in  later  times  he  was  occasion- 
ally petulant  and  sharp  under  the  stress  of  his 
many  troubles,  it  was  only  occasionally,  and  the 
keynote  of  his  nature  is  given  in  his  words  to  Lord 
Hobart :  "  My  heart,  my  Lord,  is  warm,  my  head 
is  firm,  but  my  body  is  unequal  to  my  wishes.  I 
am  visibly  shook  ;  but  as  long  as  I  can  hold  out  I 
shall  never  abandon  my  truly  honourable  post." 

While  making  his  preparations  in  London  for 
sailing  in  the  Boreas,  Nelson  was  occupied  with 
home  affairs.  His  brother  William  wished  to  go 

40 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

with  him  as  chaplain,  and  did  eventually  do  so— 
though  he  gave  up  the  post  after  a  few  months 
and  returned  to  England.  Nelson  tried  to  dis- 
suade him,  as  their  father  being  still  at  Bath  he 
did  not  consider  it  a  suitable  moment  for  him  to 
leave  Burnham  and  his  duties  there.  If  he  would 
wait  till  his  father  was  back  and  settled  for  the 
summer  he  might  come,  though  in  any  case  he 
ought  to  "  return  by  the  winter,  to  keep  our 
Father  and  sister  company  at  the  lonesome  place.'' 
Nelson  knew  just  how  "  lonesome "  it  was  at 
Burnham  Thorpe  in  winter,  when  the  snows  and 
the  bad  roads  cut  it  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Before  leaving  his  native  shores  on  this  cruise 
Nelson,  had  a  little  adventure  at  Portsmouth 
which  might  be  taken  to  show  the  wisdom  of 
sailors  leaving  horses  alone.  He  writes  in  a  very 
ruffled  state  of  mind  to  Captain  Locker : 

"  I  was  riding  a  blackguard  horse  that  ran  away 
with  me  at  Common,  carried  me  round  all  the 
Works  into  Portsmouth,  by  the  London  gates, 
through  the  town,  out  at  the  gate  that  leads  to 
Common,  where  there  was  a  waggon  in  the  road, 
which  is  so  very  narrow,  that  a  horse  could  barely 
pass.  To  save  my  legs,  and  perhaps  my  life,  I 
was  obliged  to  throw  myself  from  the  horse,  which 
I  did  with  great  agility  :  but  unluckily  upon  hard 
stones,  which  has  hurt  my  back  and  my  leg,  but 
done  no  other  mischief.  It  was  a  thousand  to  one 
that  I  had  not  been  killed.  To  crown  all,  a  young 
girl  was  riding  with  me  ;  her  horse  ran  away  with 

41 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

mine  ;  but  most  fortunately  a  gallant  young  man 
seized  her  horse's  bridle  a  moment  before  I  dis- 
mounted, and  saved  her  from  the  destruction 
which  she  could  not  have  avoided." 

But  at  last,  without  any  more  misadventures 
to  her  captain,  the  Boreas  sailed  from  Spithead, 
and  on  a  hurried  note  from  him  to  Captain  Locker, 
franked  by  Captain  Kingsmill,  the  latter  wrote : 
"  Nelson's  last,  I  imagine  :  he  sailed  to-day.  He 
is  a  very  good  young  man  ;  and  I  wish  him  every 
enjoyment  of  life." 


42 


CHAPTER  III :   DEVELOPMENT 

WHEN  Captain  Nelson  sailed  from  Spit- 
head  his  face  was  set,  unknowing,  to  a 
more  considerable  adventure  than  any  he 
had  left  behind  him,  for  it  was  during  this  time  in  the 
Boreas  that  he  was  to  meet  and  marry  that  young 
widow  of  eighteen,  Mrs.  Frances  Nisbet.     Though 
this  event  took  place  in  the  West  Indies,  it  had  so 
great  an  influence  on  Nelson's  later  English  life 
that  some  account  must  be  given  of  it  here. 

In  view  of  later  events,  this  marriage  can  only 
be  regarded  as  a  misfortune.  Had  his  wife 
possessed  a  more  ardent  temperament,  been  more 
responsive  and  enthusiastic,  it  is  probable  that 
Nelson  himself  would  not  have  strayed  so  far  from 
the  paths  of  domestic  peace.  His  traditions  and 
upbringing  were  of  the  best  English  kind  ;  the  lives 
and  behaviour  of  his  relations  suggest  the  pages 
of  Jane  Austen  rather  than  of  Richardson,  where 
virtue  is  so  very  shining  and  vice  so  unutterably 
black.  Nelson  did  not  demand  impossible  things 
of  his  wife — indeed,  his  later  letters  to  Lady  Hamil- 
ton in  those  pathetic  final  years  when  he  had  at 
last  attained  a  home  and  child  of  his  own,  show 
how  touchingly  contented  he  was  with  the  smallest 
domestic  details,  and  how  eager  for  news  of  a  cow 

43 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

or  a  chicken,  or  a  bit  of  wire  netting,  so  long  as  it 
concerned  beloved  Merton. 

But  one  thing  he  did  unconsciously  demand  in 
his  wife — and  that  was  response  to  his  own  quick 
nature  and  a  caressing  affection  that  did  not 
disdain  the  little  things  of  kisses  and  praise,  for, 
as  his  father  said  of  him,  "  the  Tender  Passions  " 
were  "  rooted  and  twined  into  his  constitution." 
There  was  something  feminine  in  his  temperament 
that  could  not  exist  on  a  calm  and  unfrequent 
assurance  of  love,  but  must  have  daily  demon- 
stration. Therefore  it  was  nothing  but  very  bad 
fortune  that  led  him  to  offer  his  name  and  heart 
to  the  one  woman  who,  if  he  had  chosen  among  a 
hundred,  could  least  give  him  what  he  needed. 
Nothing  can  be  more  eloquent  than  the  fact  that 
his  letters  to  Fanny  Nisbet  at  the  time  of  his 
courtship  are  so  temperate,  she  never  raised  a  spark 
of  that  fire  which  was  in  him.  It  is  the  more 
curious  because  he  was  so  readily  given  to  ideal- 
ising— it  did  not  need  his  later  passion  for  Emma 
Hamilton  to  inspire  him  to  extravagance  of  praise  ; 
he  had  the  same  quality  of  enthusiasm  to  spare 
for  the  ships  he  commanded  or  for  the  men  who 
served  with  him.  But  at  the  time  of  his  engage- 
ment we  have  the  quite  surprising  spectacle  of 
Nelson,  only  twenty-eight  years  old,  declaring 
he  "  does  not  much  like  the  use  of  that  word,  called 
love,"  and  saying  "  esteem  "  is  the  only  foundation 
for  married  life.  It  is  Nelson  speaking  blindly 
and  in  a  dream.  As  a  much  older  man  and  of  a 

44 


DEVELOPMENT 

much  older  woman  he  spoke  with  another  tone 
and  voice. 

When  announcing  his  engagement  to  his  uncle, 
he  wrote  calmly  and  pleasantly,  "  Her  personal 
accomplishments  you  will  suppose  /  think  equal 
to  any  person's  I  ever  saw  ;  but  without  vanity 
her  mental  accomplishments  are  superior  to  most 
people's  of  either  sex  ;  and  we  shall  come  together 
as  two  persons  most  sincerely  attached  to  each 
other  from  friendship."  To  his  brother  he  said, 
"  Every  day  am  I  more  than  ever  convinced  of 
the  propriety  of  my  choice,  and  I  shall  be  happy 
with  her."  Clarke  and  M' Arthur  declare  rather 
quaintly  that  "  the  mild  and  insinuating  manners 
of  this  amiable  woman  attracted  the  attentions 
of  the  enthusiastic  Nelson,"  and  the  fact  that  she 
was  young,  pretty-looking,  and  not  perhaps  very 
happily  situated  in  the  house  of  her  uncle,  Mr. 
Herbert,  at  Nevis,  who  though  indulgent  to  her, 
was  of  a  curious  temper,  combined  with  the  more 
important  fact  that  Nelson  was  then  for  the  first 
time  in  a  position  to  marry  and  support  a  wife, 
brought  these  two  together. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  Nelson,  with  his  res- 
ponsive and  susceptible  nature,  had  known  "  affairs 
of  the  heart  "  before  his  meeting  with  Mrs.  Nisbet 
—notably  in  the  case  of  a  "  fair  Canadian  "  and 
the  daughter  of  an  English  clergyman  at  St.  Omer. 
But  insufficiency  of  income  had  prevented  any 
serious  approach  to  matrimony.  On  March  llth, 
1787,  Horatio  Nelson  and  Frances  Nisbet  were 

45 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

married  at  Nevis,  Prince  William  Henry,  as  a  mark 
of  friendship  to  Nelson,  giving  the  bride  away. 
A  week  or  two  earlier  at  Bath,  Nelson's  favourite 
sister,  Catherine,  had  entered  into  her  very  happy 
and  successful  marriage  with  George  Matcham. 
All  promised  well  for  Nelson  also  at  the  beginning, 
and  to  his  old  friend  Captain  Locker  he  wrote, 
"  I  am  married  to  an  amiable  woman,  that  far 
makes  amends  for  everything.  Indeed,  until  I 
married  her,  I  never  knew  happiness  :  and  I  am 
morally  certain  she  will  continue  to  make  me  a 
happy  man  for  the  rest  of  my  days."  But  how 
fragile  were  these  certainties  when  confronted  by 
a  real  passion — like  straws  they  consumed  in  flame. 
To  his  betrothed  and  wife  Nelson  wrote  kind, 
affectionate,  and  often  tender  letters.  He  said 
pretty  things  to  her,  like  "  What  is  it  to  attend  on 
Princes  ?  Let  me  attend  on  you,  and  I  am 
satisfied."  He  assured  her,  "  You  can  marry  me 
only  from  a  sincere  affection;  therefore  I  ought 
to  make  you  a  good  husband,  and  I  hope  it 
will  turn  out  that  I  shall.  You  are  never 
absent  from  my  mind  in  any  place  or  company. 
I  never  wished  for  riches,  but  to  give  them  to 
you  ;  and  my  small  share  shall  be  yours  to  the 
extreme." 

But  these  two  were  only  matched,  not  mated, 
and  when  the  strain  came  this  temperate  affection 
could  not  survive.  A  temperate  affection  was  not 
natural  to  Nelson — this  marriage  is  the  only  time 
in  his  life  when  we  see  Nelson  "  out  of  character," 

46 


DEVELOPMENT 

as  it  were — and  a  passionate  one  was  equally  un- 
natural to  his  wife. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  win  a  clear  estimate 
of  Frances  Nelson's  character,  because  on  the 
whole  it  was  a  colourless  one.  The  thin  sharp  lines 
of  complaint  (for  which,  indeed,  she  had  bitter 
cause  in  later  years)  and  a  somewhat  narrow 
dignity  are  what  survive  most  visibly.  Her 
husband  in  the  early  days  of  their  marriage  speaks 
of  her  as  "  amiable  "  and  "  good-tempered,"  but 
that  was  not  the  aspect  that  particularly  impressed 
his  family  when  he  brought  his  bride  home  to  live 
amongst  them.  We  feel  that  she  was  the  kind  of 
woman  Jane  Austen  would  have  drawn  to  per- 
fection ;  she  fitted  naturally  into  a  Bath  atmosphere, 
with  her  accomplishments  and  elegancies  and  mild 
conversation,  backed  by  a  keen  sense  of  the 
advantages  and  precedence  brought  her  by  her 
husband's  later  honours  and  perils.  She  was  quite 
incapable  of  doing  anything  unsuitable,  quite 
incapable  of  hero-worship  or  extravagant  devotion  ; 
and  that  she  and  Emma  Hamilton  should  have 
been  brought  into  such  painful  contact — each  so 
completely  unfitted  to  understand  or  forgive  the 
other — is  one  of  the  minor  ironies  of  history. 

In  the  late  summer  of  the  year  of  his  marriage, 
1787,  Nelson  returned  to  England  with  his  wife. 
His  familiar  ailments  seem  to  have  struck  him 
almost  as  soon  as  he  reached  his  home  shores, 
for  he  writes  from  Portsmouth  to  Captain  Locker  : 
'  It  is  not  kind  in  one's  Native  air  to  treat  a  poor 

47 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

wanderer,  as  it  has  done  me  since  my  arrival. 
The  rain  and  cold  at  first  gave  me  a  sore  throat 
and  its  accompaniments :  the  hot  weather  has 
given  me  a  slow  fever,  not  absolutely  bad  enough 
to  keep  my  bed,  yet  enough  to  hinder  me  from 
doing  anything  ;  and  I  could  not  have  wrote  a 
letter  for  the  world." 

A  little  later  he  brought  his  wife  up  to  town,  as 
the  Boreas,  instead  of  being  paid  off,  was  ordered 
to  be  in  readiness  to  sail  at  a  moment's  notice. 
From  10,  Great  Marlborough  Street  he  wrote  to 
his  brother,  whom  he  had  evidently  asked  to  look 
out  for  a  suitable  house  for  him  :  "I  am  much 
obliged  about  your  inquiries  at  Bodney,  but  by 
your  description  the  house  seems  too  large  for  my 
purpose.  It  appears  from  the  size,  etc.,  very 
cheap,  but  I  can't  afford  anything  answerable  to 
such  a  situation." 

The  question  of  a  house  was  allowed  to  drop 
for  a  time,  and  Nelson  left  his  wife  at  an  uncle  of 
hers  in  Cavendish  Square  when  he  returned  to 
the  Nore,  where  the  Boreas  was  lying  seven  miles 
from  the  land,  on  the  Impress  service,  and  where 
he,  as  he  declared,  was  as  much  separated  from 
his  wife  as  if  he  were  in  the  East  Indies.  The 
Boreas  was  not  paid  off  till  December,  and  there  is 
a  story  that  Nelson  was  so  angry  at  the  treatment 
he  had  received  in  the  Boreas  being  turned  into  a 
receiving  ship  for  pressed  men,  combined  with 
the  fact  that  he  had  met  with  reprimands  and 
little  support  during  his  arduous  efforts  to  stop 

48 


DEVELOPMENT 

contraband  trade  in  the  Leeward  Islands,  that  he 
said  to  the  senior  officer  in  the  Medway,  "  I  now 
rejoice  at  the  Boreas  being  ordered  to  be  paid  off, 
which  will  release  me  for  ever  from  an  ungrateful 
Service,  as  it  is  my  firm  and  unalterable  deter- 
mination never  again  to  set  foot  on  board  a  King's 
ship.  Immediately  after  my  arrival  in  town, 
I  shall  wait  on  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 
and  resign  my  commission."  There  is  no  in- 
dication in  his  letters  of  the  time  that  he  was 
dissatisfied  with  the  work  on  which  he  was  engaged, 
though  he  had  cause  for  exasperation  at  the  cold 
official  reception  of  his  efforts  to  stay  the  robbing 
of  his  country  in  the  West  Indies.  At  all  times 
he  was  peculiarly  sensitive  to  censure,  not  only 
when  he  was  unknown,  but  in  the  days  of  his  fame. 
The  year  after  the  Nile,  when  the  world  was 
ringing  with  his  praises,  he  wrote  to  Earl  Spencer, 
**  Do  not,  my  dear  Lord,  let  the  Admiralty  write 
harshly  to  me — my  generous  soul  cannot  bear  it." 
The  Conqueror  of  Aboukir  is  like  a  child  shrinking 
from  a  blow. 

But  if  Nelson  was  quick  to  feel  what  he  regarded 
as  unjust  censure,  his  generous  nature  was  easily 
placated  by  a  little  kindness.  Lord  Howe,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty,  was  happily  told  by 
a  mutual  friend  of  Nelson's  irritation,  and  at  once 
wrote  him  a  private  letter  requesting  that  he  would 
call  when  he  came  to  town.  When  the  interview 
took  place,  the  First  Lord  saw  that  Nelson's 
voluntary  services  in  the  West  Indies  had  been 

49  E 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

both  valuable  and  daring,  and  to  indicate  his 
complete  approval  offered  to  present  him  to  the 
King  at  the  next  levee.  George  III.  was  again 
gracious  to  the  young  captain,  and  as  loyalty  was 
always  a  pure  and  exalted  passion  in  Nelson's 
breast,  his  grievance  was  handsomely  healed,  and 
all  thought — if  he  had  ever  cherished  it,  which  is 
very  doubtful — of  quitting  an  "  ungrateful  Ser- 
vice "  banished. 

Thus  reconciled  to  those  in  authority,  Nelson 
still  continued  his  efforts  that  his  country's  just 
revenues  should  not  be  tampered  with  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  as  his  papers  on  this  subject 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
George  Rose,  he  determined  one  morning  to  call 
upon  that  gentleman  and  see  if  more  could  not 
be  done  by  word  of  mouth  than  by  writing.  Mr. 
Rose  had  sufficient  discrimination  to  realise  that 
here  was  no  common  cause  and  no  ordinary  officer 
who  urged  it,  and  he  therefore  said,  "  I  am  sorry, 
Captain  Nelson,  to  be  at  present  so  much  engaged  ; 
but  to-morrow  I  will  see  you,  and  at  any  hour  you 
may  please  to  appoint,  only  pray  let  it  be  an  early 
one."  Nelson  was  not  to  be  outdone :  "It  can- 
not, sir,  be  too  early  for  me  ;  six  o'clock,  if  you 
please." 

Therefore  at  that  early  hour  the  following 
morning  Nelson  and  George  Rose — who  was  to 
become  one  of  his  close  friends — met  again.  "  The 
interesting  conversation  that  ensued,"  say  Clarke 
and  M' Arthur,  who,  writing  as  they  did  so  much 

50 


DEVELOPMENT 

nearer  Nelson's  time  than  any  other  of  his  bio- 
graphers, are  our  most  valuable  recorders  in  per- 
sonal details,  "  lasted  from  six  o'clock  until  nine  : 
in  which,  to  the  utter  astonishment  of  Mr.  Rose, 
Captain  Nelson  displayed  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  several  political  subjects,  connected  with  the 
trade  and  commerce  of  his  country,  that  were 
the  least  likely  to  have  come  under  his  immediate 
notice  as  a  naval  officer.  Mr.  Rose  begged  that 
he  would  stay  for  breakfast ;  and,  on  his  rising 
afterwards  to  take  his  leave,  said :  '  I  am  equally, 
Sir,  convinced  of  the  justice  and  astonished  at 
the  extreme  accuracy  of  all  you  have  said :  but 
allow  me  to  add,  that  this  interview  will  prove 
of  little  public  utility,  if  I  am  obliged  to  conceal 
what  I  have  heard.  The  only  way  to  make  it 
ultimately  useful,  would  be,  if  you  would  allow  me, 
to  lay  the  whole  before  Mr.  Pitt.'  No  objection 
was  made  to  so  flattering  a  proposal,  and  .  .  . 
Nelson  had  the  additional  satisfaction  of  finding 
that  the  opinions  he  had  delivered  were  thoroughly 
approved,  and  promised  to  be  supported  by  Mr. 
Pitt." 

So  much  for  Nelson's  public  matters  at  this 
time.  His  private  ones  were  principally  concerned 
with  the  education  of  his  little  godson,  Josiah 
Nisbet,  who  in  later  years  was  at  once  to  save  his 
life  and  help  in  rendering  it  miserable,  and  with 
the  choice  of  a  residence  for  himself  and  Mrs. 
Nelson.  While  in  London  he  was  principally 
at  No.  6,  Princes  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  where 

51 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

his  wife's  uncle  lived,  and  at  Captain  Locker's 
pleasant  home  in  Kensington.  From  Cavendish 
Square  he  wrote  to  the  Reverend  William  Nelson 
in  January,  1788,  about  the  stepson  who  was  to 
be  sent  to  school  in  Norfolk  :  "  Our  little  boy 
shall  be  at  Hilborough  on  Tuesday  or  Wednesday 
next,  escorted  by  Frank  [his  servant,  Frank  Lepee], 
who  I  have  desired  to  stay  two  or  three  days  till 
the  child  becomes  reconciled.  I  am  assured  of 
your  and  Mrs.  Nelson's  goodness  to  him — that  is, 
you  will  not  allow  him  to  do  as  he  pleases  :  it's 
mistaken  kindness  where  it  happens.  I  wish  him 
at  school  to  have  the  same  weekly  allowance  as 
the  other  boys,  and  whatever  else  may  be  proper 
for  him.  We  have  been  very  unwell,  and  shall 
go  to  Bath  as  soon  as  I  can  get  out."  He  sends 
his  "  best  compliments  "  to  Mrs.  William  Nelson, 
for  his  brother,  like  himself,  had  married  since 
they  last  met,  and  was  now  possessed  of  the  baby 
daughter  Charlotte  who  later  became  Lady  Brid- 
port. 

Evidently  about  this  time  he  had  again  been 
thinking  of  a  house,  for  in  a  letter  to  Captain 
Locker,  written  from  Bath,  he  says  :  '  Your  kind 
letter  I  received  yesterday,  and  am  much  obliged 
by  your  kind  inquiries  about  a  house.  I  fear  we 
must  at  present  give  up  all  thoughts  of  living  so 
near  London,  for  Mrs.  Nelson's  lungs  are  so  much 
affected  by  the  smoke  of  London  that  I  cannot 
think  of  placing  her  in  that  situation,  however 
desirable.  For  the  next  summer  I  shall  be  down 

52 


DEVELOPMENT 

in  Norfolk,  from  thence  I  must  look  forward.  I 
was  rather  hurried  in  getting  down  here,  by  Prince 
William  having  invited  me  to  Plymouth.  I  was 
therefore  glad  to  place  Mrs.  Nelson  here  at  once, 
which  not  only  saved  me  the  expense,  but  the  toil, 
of  a  journey  three  hundred  miles.  I  returned  from 
Plymouth  three  days  ago,  and  found  Prince  William 
everything  I  could  wish — respected  by  all." 

To  Captain  Locker,  Nelson  again  wrote  a  couple 
of  months  later,  again  from  Bath,  saying  "  never 
was  I  so  well."  He  and  Mrs.  Nelson  had  been 
staying  for  the  last  month  with  an  uncle  of  hers 
at  Redland,  near  Bristol,  and  have  "  only  just 
returned  here,  in  order  to  drink  the  waters  another 
fortnight,  after  which  we  are  going  to  Exmouth 
on  a  visit  for  a  month  ;  from  whence  we  shall  pass 
through  London  on  our  way  to  Norfolk."  But 
though  Bath  had  suited  his  health,  Nelson  was 
growing  weary  of  the  formalities  and  daily  routine, 
in  spite  of  the  company  of  brother  officers  :  "  Our 
sea  folks  here  are  pretty  numerous,  but  I  am  tired 
of  this  place,  and  long  to  get  into  the  country." 

Into  the  country  he  went  accordingly,  and  wrote 
to  Hercules  Ross  from  Exmouth  Moor  in  May, 
telling  him  that  his  letter  had  found  him  "  in  this 
remote  corner,  where  I  have  been  this  last  fort- 
night, enjoying  the  benefit  of  a  first  summer  to  a 
West  Indian :  no  bad  thing."  He  goes  on : 
"  We  shall  rest  all  next  Sunday  at  Bath,  in  our 
way  to  London,  and  I  shall  examine  the  Pump- 
Room,  to  see  if  you  and  Mrs.  Ross  are  at  Bath  ; 

53 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

and  should  that  be  the  case,  I  will  have  the 
satisfaction  of  taking  my  old  friend  by  the  hand. 
You  have,  as  well  as  myself,  undergone  a  great 
change,  since  we  last  met ;  and  I  hope,  and  have 
been  told,  are  united  to  an  amiable  woman,  the 
greatest  blessing  Heaven  can  bestow.  But  in  this 
next,  my  friend,  you  have  got  the  start  of  me. 
You  have  given  up  all  the  toils  and  anxieties  of 
business  ;  whilst  I  must  still  buffet  the  waves— 
in  search  of  what  ?  That  thing  called  Honour, 
is  now,  alas  !  thought  of  no  more.  My  integrity 
cannot  be  mended,  I  hope  ;  but  my  fortune,  God 
knows,  has  grown  worse  for  the  Service  ;  so  much 
for  serving  my  Country  "  —and  then  follows  that 
well-known  and  characteristic  saying  of  his,  "  I 
have  invariably  laid  down,  and  followed  close,  a 
plan  of  what  ought  to  be  uppermost  in  the  breast  of 
an  Officer :  that  it  is  much  better  to  serve  an 
ungrateful  Country,  than  to  give  up  his  own 
fame.  Posterity  will  do  him  justice  :  a  uniform 
conduct  of  honour  and  integrity  seldom  fails 
of  bringing  a  man  to  the  goal  of  Fame  at 
last." 

Such  was  Nelson's  simple  faith,  in  which  we 
may  discern  the  upbringing  of  his  good  father ; 
but  though  honour  and  integrity  of  the  highest 
order  ever  marked  his  own  professional  actions, 
they  would  never  have  brought  him  to  the  "  goal 
of  Fame "  had  they  not  been  accompanied  by 
that  daring  spirit,  that  inspired  and  inspiring  mind, 
that  gift  of  leadership  from  on  high,  that  contempt 

54 


DEVELOPMENT 

for  all  but  the  supremest  possible  achievement, 
which  marked  him  out  from  other  men— though 
few  or  none  had  discerned  these  matchless  qualities 
in  him  in  the  year  1788. 


55 


CHAPTER  IV:   RURAL  YEARS. 

FIVE  years  of   peace  and  domesticity  were 
to  be  Nelson's  lot  before  his  great  destiny 
descended  upon  him,  before  he  was  "  lifted 
high,    Conspicuous    object    in    a    Nation's    eye," 
before  he  knew  fame  and  glory,  magnificent  toil, 
magnificently    crowned,    ambition    satisfied,  and 
passion  requited — all  the  things  that  were  so  far 
removed    from    his    father's    peaceful    home    in 
Norfolk. 

The  quiet  years  have  little  history  and  that 
is  specially  true  of  this  unregarded  time  in  Nelson's 
life.  Our  principal  and  most  precious  source  of 
information  regarding  the  details  of  his  career  and 
the  way  he  looked  at  them  lies  in  his  abundant 
correspondence — all  his  biographers  must  work 
upon  that  base.  The  store  of  his  letters  is  rich 
and  quick  with  the  vitality  of  his  spirit,  increasingly 
so  as  the  years  go  on  and  he  becomes  at  once  more 
conscious  of  himself  and  more  impulsive  in  utter- 
ance. But  of  the  five  years  from  1788  to  1793 
when  he  was  on  half-pay,  and  living  principally 
at  Burnham  Thorpe,  he  has  left  but  a  bare  record 
—for  that  whole  period  there  are  only  thirty 
letters  remaining,  and  half  of  these  letters  are  of 
an  official  and  not  particularly  interesting  nature. 

56 


RURAL  YEARS 

In  a  sense  this  was  unavoidable,  for  as  he  was 
living  with  his  family  he  had  little  need  to  write 
to  them. 

When  he  went  into  Norfolk  he  had  two  new 
relations  to  meet,  his  brother's  wife,  Mrs.  William 
Nelson,  and  his  sister  Catherine's  husband,  the 
genial,  cultured  George  Matcham.  He  had  also 
his  own  wife  to  introduce  to  the  family  circle. 
His  father  had  already  corresponded  with  his  new 
daughter-in-law,  and  that  note  of  complaint  which 
later  became  so  unhappily  familiar  was  early 
struck.  The  gentle  old  Rector  wrote  of  "my 
Daughter  F.N.  whom  I  have  just  now  heard  of. 
She  has  been  unwell  and  in  poor  spirits.  Hard, 
she  says,  is  the  Lot  of  a  Sailor's  wife."  As  always 
he  was  anxious  to  welcome  in  his  old-world, 
somewhat  tremulous  way,  the  new  sons  and  daugh- 
ters his  own  children  brought  him,  but  he  seems 
to  have  had  a  sudden  nervousness  about  the  wife 
of  his  favourite  son,  whom  he  had  not  then  seen, 
and  somewhat  piteously  wanted  to  postpone  the 
introduction  of  a  stranger  to  "an  Infirm  and 
Whimsical  old  Man,"  as  he  called  himself.  In 
deference  to  this  wish  Captain  Nelson  visited  his 
father  first  without  his  wife.  "  Your  Bro  has 
made  me  a  short  visit,"  he  wrote  to  Catherine 
Matcham,  "  I  thank  God  he  seems  perfectly  in 
Health,  Happy  and  as  usuall  replete  with  the  most 
affectionate  Love  and  Good  wishes  towards  His 
friends  ...  lie  means  to  visit  you,  and  that 
Mr.  M.  and  you  shall  conduct  Him  and  His  wife 

57 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

to  Thorpe,  where  probably  they  will  cast  their 
Anchor  for  a  time." 

Catherine  and  her  husband  were  settled  at 
Barton  Hall,  near  Norwich,  a  comfortable  house 
with  a  pleasant  park  that  slopes  down  to  Barton 
Broad — a  house  that  knew  a  lavishness  of  servants 
and  entertainment  there  was  not  at  the  more 
frugal  Parsonage  House  at  Burnham.  Such  lavish- 
ness  suited  Kitty's  warm  impulses  :  she  delighted 
in  gathering  her  family  about  her  and  to  have  her 
favourite  brother  "  Horace "  was  the  greatest 
happiness  of  all.  He  was  staying  with  her  on 
August  8th,  1788,  as  the  address  of  one  of  his 
letters  shows — probably  on  the  projected  visit 
to  which  his  father  alludes.  It  is  evident  from 
his  own  letters  that  Edmund  Nelson — whom  we 
see  as  a  white-haired,  gentle,  agitated  old  man, 
tremulous  over  trifles,  easily  put  in  "a  Fuss," 
sweet-tempered,  fond  of  "  chatt  from  the  Ladies  " 
—had  asked  his  son  to  postpone  bringing  "his 
Lady  and  Suite  to  Burnham  "  till  his  other  visits 
were  over.  He  shrank  from  the  stranger,  though 
he  said,  "  I  believe  she  will  form  a  valuable  part 
of  our  family  connections ; "  but  he  longed  for  the 
company  of  Horace,  and  feeling  his  own  loneliness 
at  the  "  Thorpe  Hermitage "  as  he  did  since 
Catherine's  marriage,  had  begged  them  both  to 
make  their  home  with  him. 

And  so  Nelson  came  to  settle  down  at  Burnham 
Thorpe,  of  which,  say  his  first  biographers,  "  he 
could  never  speak  in  absence  without  being 

58 


RURAL  YEARS 

affected."  At  first  it  had  been  his  intention  only 
to  make  his  father  a  visit,  as  once  more  he  planned 
going  to  France,  this  time  with  his  wife,  to  acquire 
the  language,  which  he  had  "  experienced  great 
inconvenience  from  not  understanding."  But  he 
gave  up  this  plan  at  his  father's  wish :  "  His 
joy  at  seeing  his  son  was  so  great  that  he  declared 
it  had  given  him  new  life.  '  But,  Horace,'  ex- 
claimed the  venerable  rector,  '  it  would  have  been 
better  that  I  had  not  been  thus  cheered,  if  I  am 
so  soon  to  be  bereaved  of  you  again.  Let  me, 
my  good  son  !  see  you  whilst  I  can  :  my  age  and 
infirmities  increase,  and  I  shall  not  last  long.'  ' 

"It  is  extremely  interesting,"  continue  Clarke 
and  M' Arthur,  "  to  contemplate  this  great  man, 
when  thus  removed  from  the  busy  scenes  in  which 
he  had  borne  so  distinguished  a  part,  to  the  remote 
village  of  Burnham  Thorpe.  His  mind,  though 
so  entirely  taken  from  its  proper  element  and 
sphere  of  action,  could  not  remain  unoccupied. 
He  was  soon,  therefore,  engaged,  and  with  con- 
siderable zeal,  in  cultivating  his  father's  garden, 
and  in  learning  to  farm  the  adjoining  glebe  ;  but 
the  former  was  his  principal  station  :  he  would 
there  often  spend  the  greater  part  of  the  day, 
and  dig,  as  it  were,  for  the  sake  of  being  wearied." 

His  brother-in-law,  George  Matcham,  was  an 
enthusiastic  lover  of  gardening,  and  he  had  done 
much,  since  his  entry  into  the  family,  to  replenish 
and  adorn  the  old  Parsonage  garden.  Inspired 
by  this  example,  Nelson  threw  himself  with  his 

59 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

usual  ardour  into  this  peaceful  pursuit,  and  even 
in  the  winter  found  something  to  do  there.  We  get 
a  glimpse  of  him  thus  engaged  in  a  December 
letter  his  father  wrote  to  Catherine — and  the 
glimpse  is  the  more  vivid  from  the  old-world 
phrases  the  Rector  always  used :  "  The  sun  is 
now  at  its  farthest  distance,  and  we  must  wait 
his  return  for  spring  entertainment  of  the  rose  and 
hyacinth,  and  in  hopes  of  these  your  Brother 
is  often  amused  in  the  garden,  which  Mr.  M.  has 
engaged  to  beautify  with  some  Barton  roses. 
These  we  will  thank  him  to  order  hither,  that 
they  may  be  arranged  in  our  Parterre.  These 
matters  are  New,  and  your  Bro'  is  happy  in  the 
thought  of  a  future  crop."  He  adds,  "  I  wish 
his  Good  Wife  had  her  amusement ;  a  little 
society  and  an  instrument  with  which  she  could 
pass  away  an  hour.  Her  musicall  powers  I  fancy 
are  beyond  the  common  sort."  * 

In  another  letter  he  says  that  the  Captain's  wife 
finds  the  Burnham  climate  less  temperate  than 
Nevis,  and  the  mild  society  of  the  place  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  much  to  her  taste.  He  is 
constantly  distressing  himself  as  to  the  lack  of 
"  variety "  she  suffers — though  it  was  a  large 
and  friendly  family  circle  she  had  entered — and 
he  says  "  she  does  not  openly  complain  "  :  but 
there  are  other  ways,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  Frances 
Nelson  knew  them.  The  note  of  faint  injury 
thus  early  clung  to  her.  She  was  naturally 

*  The  ydton*  of  Burnham  Thorpe^  by  M.  Eyre  Matcham  (John  Lane). 

60 


Mrs.  HOKATIO  NELSON. 

From  a  vater-colour  drawing  by  G.  P.  Harding  after  Edridge. 


RURAL  YEARS 

conventional,  an  "  elegant  woman  "  in  the  language 
of  her  time,  and  therefore  unsuited  to  a  simple 
rural  life,  where  pleasures  come  through  the  seeing 
eye  and  contented  heart.  The  little  stories  of 
this  period  of  Nelson's  life  have  a  curious  pathos 
viewed  in  the  light  of  his  soaring  spirit  and  his 
wife's  limitations  :  "he  would  renew  the  early 
pastime  of  his  childhood,  and  with  a  simplicity 
that  was  peculiar  to  him,  when  his  mind  was  not 
employed  on  the  great  objects  of  professional 
duty,  would  spend  some  part  of  the  day  amidst 
the  woods,  in  taking  the  eggs  of  different  birds, 
which,  as  he  obtained,  he  gave  to  Mrs.  Nelson, 
who  always  accompanied  him."  * 

One  glimpse  of  Edridge's  portrait  of  Mrs.  Nelson 
shows  how  much  more  suited  she  was  to  the 
Pump  Room  at  Bath  than  to  bird's-nesting  in 
Burnham  woods.  She  is  the  very  personification 
of  eighteenth-century  propriety,  with  her  high- 
waisted  dress  and  graceful  flower-decked  turban. 
Her  features  are  good ;  indeed  she  is  distinctly 
handsome,  with  her  straight  nose  and  large  eyes, 
but  her  expression  is  cold  and  self-contained. 
She  lacks  that  sweetness  and  that  enthusiasm  which 
were  so  essentially  Nelson's  needs. 

Of  Nelson's  pursuits  at  this  period  the  records 
are  scanty,  for  the  annals  of  a  rural  life  do  not 
lend  themselves  to  great  expansion.  Indoors, 
his  pursuits  were  somewhat  limited.  "  He  some- 
times employed  his  time,  when  his  eyes  would 

*  Clarke  and  M' Arthur. 

61 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

admit  of  it,  in  reading  the  periodical  works  of 
the  day,  but  oftener  in  studying  charts,  and  in 
writing,  or  drawing  plans."  But  as  much  as 
possible  his  occupations  were  out-of-doors,  and 
he  was,  as  he  said  himself,  completely  "  retired 
from  the  busy  scenes  of  power."  The  great  house 
of  this  quiet  neighbourhood  is  Holkham  Hall, 
and  soon  after  Nelson  settled  down  at  the  Parson- 
age the  centenary  of  the  landing  of  William  of 
Orange  occurred,  which  event  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coke 
celebrated  with  a  magnificent  festival  at  Holkham 
to  which  the  whole  countryside  was  bidden, 
with  many  distinguished  guests  from  less  rural 
regions.  The  Reverend  Edmund  Nelson  and  Cap- 
tain Horatio  Nelson  and  his  wife  were  invited  ; 
the  Rector  declined,  partly  no  doubt  from  his 
dislike  of  large  gatherings  and  partly  because,  as 
a  Tory,  he  did  not  care  to  join  this  great  Whig 
celebration.  Captain  Nelson  presented  his  com- 
pliments— in  his  wife's  handwriting — and  regretted 
it  was  "  not  in  his  power  to  accept  their  invita- 
tion." This  somewhat  brusque  refusal  is  preserved 
in  the  Holkham  records. 

After  his  varied  and  active  life  at  sea  a  certain 
bitterness  sometimes  overtook  Nelson  in  his 
seclusion.  When  he  had  been  a  year  at  Burnham 
he  wrote  to  William  Locker  :  "  When  we  may 
meet,  time  must  determine  ;  at  present,  I  have 
no  appearance  of  being  called  up  to  London. 
Not  being  a  man  of  fortune  is  a  crime  which  I 
cannot  get  over,  and  therefore  none  of  the  Great 

62 


RURAL  YEARS 

care  about  me.  I  am  now  commencing  Farmer, 
not  a  very  large  one,  you  will  conceive,  but  enough 
for  amusement.  Shoot  I  cannot,  therefore  I 
have  not  taken  out  a  license  ;  but  notwithstanding 
the  neglect  I  have  met  with,  I  am  happy,  and 
now  I  see  the  propriety  of  not  having  built  my 
hopes  on  such  sandy  foundations  as  the  friendships 
of  the  Great."  The  same  bitterness  shows  in  a 
letter  he  wrote  to  some  one  who  solicited  his  help 
concerning  the  matter  of  the  contraband  trade 
in  the  West  Indies,  against  which  he  had  fought 
so  strenuously  :  "  Retired  as  I  am,  upwards  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  London,  I 
can  render  you  little  if  any  assistance  in  getting 
forward  in  this  business ;  and  good  wishes, 
without  something  more  powerful,  are  of  no  avail 
in  this  Country.  I  can  only  sit  down  and  think" 
This  business  was  to  cause  him  further  trouble, 
for  one  day  in  April,  1790,  when  he  had  gone  to 
the  fair  to  buy  a  pony  he  was  very  anxious  to 
possess — apparently  forgetting  the  "  blackguard 
horse "  that  threw  him  at  Portsmouth  ! — two 
men  appeared  at  the  Parsonage,  and  finding 
Captain  Nelson  was  absent  served  a  writ  on  his 
wife  from  the  angry  American  captains,  who  laid 
their  damages  from  Nelson's  honesty  and  in- 
flexibility at  £20,000.  In  due  course  Nelson  re- 
turned home  with  his  pony,  and  called  for  his 
wife  to  admire  its  excellencies,  and  not  until  the 
favoured  animal  had  been  properly  fed  and  cared 
for  would  he  hear  a  word  of  what  had  happened  ; 

63 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

when  he  did  so  his  surprise  and  distress  were 
great,  for  as  may  be  imagined,  £20,000  was  an 
impossible  sum  in  that  simple  family.  "  As 
Nelson's  mind  was  irritable  in  the  extreme,"  say 
his  biographers,  "  and  often  displayed  sudden 
paroxysms,  it  may  easily  be  imagined  what  his 
sensations  were  at  that  moment." 

"  This  affront,"  he  cried,  "  I  did  not  deserve  ; 
but  never  mind :  I'll  be  trifled  with  no  longer. 
I  will  write  immediately  to  the  Treasury  ;  and  if 
Government  will  not  support  me,  I  am  resolved 
to  leave  the  country." 

But  there  were  people  at  the  Admiralty,  as  well 
as  Mr.  Rose,  who  had  some  idea  of  Nelson's  value 
and  of  the  disinterested  character  of  the  services 
he  had  rendered  in  the  West  Indies,  and  as  official 
support  was  promised  him  the  trouble  passed  over. 

Shortly  after  this,  in  view  of  the  expected  rup- 
ture with  Spain,  Nelson  journeyed  to  London, 
eager  in  the  hope  of  employment,  and  from  the 
Admiralty  Office,  on  May  8th,  1790,  he  wrote 
begging  for  such  "  employment  as  their  Lordships 
shall  judge  most  proper."  But  their  Lordships 
judged  it  most  proper  to  let  Captain  Nelson 
return  to  Burnham  Thorpe,  whence  he  wrote  to 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  "  My  not  being  appointed 
to  a  Ship  is  so  very  mortifying,  that  I  cannot  find 
words  to  express  what  I  feel  on  the  occasion." 
It  is  pathetic,  knowing  the  way  in  which  he  took 
things  to  heart,  to  find  him  writing  to  the  First 
Lord,  the  Earl  of  Chatham  :  "I  am  sensible  I 

64 


RURAL  YEARS 

have  no  great  interest  to  recommend  me,  nor 
have  I  had  conspicuous  opportunities  of  distin- 
guishing myself  :  but  thus  far,  without  arrogating, 
I  can  say,  that  no  opportunity  has  been  passed  by  ; 
and  that  I  have  ever  been  a  zealous  Officer." 

But  the  years  were  not  ripe  for  him ;  the  French 
Revolution  and  the  Great  War  were  yet  dark 
in  the  womb  of  time — Norfolk  and  peace  were 
to  hold  him  a  little  longer.  It  is  characteristic  of 
Nelson,  always  the  most  human  of  creatures  and 
never  overmuch  possessed  of  ;'  the  philosophic 
mind,"  thus  to  fret  at  peace  and  home  when  he 
had  it  and  to  yearn  for  it  with  heartbroken  longings 
when  war  surrounded  him  on  every  side.  Great 
as  he  was,  Nelson  was  never  wise — which  is  one 
reason  he  is  so  lovable.  The  brain  is  a  cold  con- 
troller and  leads  no  man  to  the  hearts  of  his 
countryman.  It  was  natural  enough  that  he  should 
fret  during  these  Norfolk  years  when  all  his  stored 
valour  and  impulse  was  breathing  in  him  un- 
satisfied and  unproved — when  destiny  had  as  yet 
given  him  no  "  conspicuous  opportunities." 

Clarke  and  M' Arthur  say  :  "  During  this  interval 
of  disappointment  and  mortification,  his  latent 
ambition  would  at  times  burst  forth  and  despise 
all  restraint.  At  others,  a  sudden  melancholy 
seemed  to  overshadow  his  noble  faculties,  and  to 
affect  his  temper  ;  at  those  moments  the  remon- 
strances of  his  wife  and  venerable  father  alone 
could  calm  the  tempest  of  his  passions.  Then 
would  he  patiently  resume  his  wonted  rural  occu- 

65  F 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

pations ;  and,  like  other  heroes,  endeavour  by 
agricultural  pursuits  to  find  an  object  of  employ- 
ment for  that  energy  which  he  could  not  subdue." 

We  feel  that  this  picture  of  the  visible  tempest 
of  Nelson's  passions  is  somewhat  over-coloured 
—none  of  the  family's  letters  allude  to  these 
outbreaks.  Instead,  his  father  says  :  "  Hor  :  seems 
quite  reconciled  as  to  any  employment " — to  the 
lack  of  it,  that  is ;  and  again,  to  Catherine : 
"  Your  Bro  :  is  well  and,  I  hope,  fixed  at  Thorpe, 
a  place  He  delights  in,  but  I  wish  it  was  a  little 
better  accommodated  to  Mrs.  N.,  as  a  woman 
who  would  sometimes  choose  a  little  variety." 

This  year  of  1790  brought  a  few  changes  and  re- 
arrangements in  the  quiet  circle.  The  Rector 
decided  to  give  up  the  Parsonage  House  to  his  son 
Horatio  and  his  wife  and  live  himself  in  a  cottage 
at  Burnham  Ulph,  close  to  the  church  where  he 
had  also  to  conduct  a  service.  The  distance  of 
Thorpe  Parsonage  not  only  from  its  own  church 
but  from  everywhere  else  was  troublesome  to  him, 
and  he  may  also  have  felt,  with  that  tolerant 
kindliness  which  marked  him,  that  it  was  as  well 
young  Mrs.  Horatio  Nelson  should  be  undisputed 
mistress  of  a  house  of  her  own.  In  later  years 
he  and  his  daughter-in-law  lived  a  great  deal 
together,  and  much  as  he  praises  her  attentions 
and  patience  with  his  "  whimsical  ways,"  it  is 
evident  that  his  wishes  give  way  to  her  con- 
venience. 

The  scanty  correspondence  of  this  time  gives 

66 


RURAL  YEARS 

such  little  rural  pictures  and  employments  as 
may  be  expected,  diversified  with  occasional 
visits  to  London — mostly  with  the  great  pro- 
fessional object  of  being  employed  on  Nelson's 
part — and  visits  to  and  from  a  considerable  circle 
of  relations.  All  Nelson's  married  brothers  and 
sisters  had  children,  and  they  added  liveliness 
and  gaiety  to  the  family  meetings — though  we 
have  it  on  record  that  Kitty  Bolton,  who  visited 
Thorpe  that  summer,  wondered  that  her  mother 
should  send  her  to  "so  dull  a  place."  Nelson  was 
always  extremely  fond  of  and  indulgent  to  his 
young  nephews  and  nieces,  and  that  his  wife 
("by  whom  I  have  no  children  "  as  he  wrote  with 
curt  pathos  a  few  years  later)  looked  on  them  less 
warmly  was  one  of  the  causes  of  estrangement 
between  him  and  her  in  time  to  come. 

An  annual  event  was  the  visit  Captain  and  Mrs. 
Nelson  paid  to  Lord  and  Lady  Walpole  at  Wol- 
terton,  near  Norwich,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  in 
those  elegant  surroundings  Frances  Nelson  felt 
herself  happy.  A  kindly  little  glimpse  of  the 
Rector  is  given  by  his  commission  to  Mrs.  Mat- 
cham  :  "Be  so  good  as  to  buy  for  Mrs.  Nelson  a 
plain  Hansom  Bonnett,  such  as  she  may  wear  at 
Wolterton  if  need  be,  or  what  you  would  for  your- 
self buy  for  dining,  visits,  etc.  Send  it  down  and 
if  any  covering  for  the  neck  by  way  of  a  cloak  is 
needfull,  add  that  also.  Place  them  to  my 
account."  * 

*  The  Nelsons  of  Burnham  Thorpe. 

67 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

There  is  a  complete  blank  in  Nelson's  letters 
during  the  year  1791,  and  it  is  not  till  February, 
1792,  that  he  comes  back  into  the  correspondence 
with  a  long  letter  to  his  brother  William  at  Hill- 
borough,  who  had  evidently  invited  him  there  : 
"  When  I  go  to  London,"  he  says,  "  I  may  possibly 
go  by  Hillborough  ;  but  on  the  other  side,  I  know 
you  are  so  short  of  hay,  that  unless  I  could  buy 
a  little  I  don't  like  taking  three  weeks  or  a  fort- 
night's keep  at  least,  where  it  is  impossible  to 
replace  it." 

The  death  of  Lord  Orford,  to  whom  the  Nelsons 
were  related,  had  caused  some  perturbation  over 
the  funeral.  To  his  brother,  Nelson  goes  on : 
"  Mr.  Suckling  had  not  seen  the  present  Earl  of 
Orford  when  he  wrote  to  me.  The  following  is 
an  extract  of  his  letter :  '  I  am  sorry  so  much 
cause  for  warmth  has  been  given  to  your  family 
through  the  inattention  and  ignorance  of  Mr. 
Dashwood,  in  omitting  the  invitation  to  attend 
at  the  funeral  of  the  late  Earl  of  Orford,  which 
it  was  his  duty  to  have  done,  having  taken  upon 
himself  to  conduct  the  same,  and  you  had  an 
indisputable  right  to  expect  it.'  ' 

He  gives  some  Burnham  gossip  and  some  words 
about  naval  affairs,  and  concludes  with  saying, 
"  Tycho  is  very  well "  -Tycho  is  probably  his 
pony — "  and  has  afforded  me  a  great  deal  of  amuse- 
ment. Mrs.  Nelson  will  be  obliged  to  Miss  Randall 
to  tell  her  where  honey- water  is  sold  in  Norwich." 

Next  month  he  carried  out  his  plan  and  went 

68 


RURAL  YEARS 

to  London,  and  his  father  wrote,  "  His  Absence 
I  think  an  Age."  On  his  return  he  had  a  somewhat 
narrow  escape,  for  the  Fakenham  stage-coach  the 
night  afterwards  was  overthrown  and  the  pas- 
sengers much  hurt.  Nelson's  object  in  visiting 
London  and  "  Bowing  to  the  High  and  mighty 
potentates  "  was,  as  always,  employment.  He  is 
said  to  have  assured  an  indifferent  Admiralty, 
"  If  your  Lordships  should  be  pleased  to  appoint 
me  to  a  cockle  boat  I  shall  feel  grateful."  After 
his  long  neglect  in  high  quarters  Nelson  began  to 
feel  as  though  he  would  never  get  employed  ;  he 
told  the  Duke  of  Clarence  that  though  he  had 
written  to  the  First  Lord,  "  I  can  hardly  expect 
any  answer  to  my  letter,  which  has  always  been 
the  way  I  have  been  treated." 

A  month  later,  in  December,  1792,  Nelson  wrote 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  a  long  and  singularly  inter- 
esting letter  which  must  be  quoted  almost  in  full, 
for  it  shows  him  turning  from  his  own  disappoint- 
ments to  consider  the  life  of  the  farm  labourer,  with 
which  he  had  been  brought  into  close  contact 
in  these  rural  years,  for  one  of  the  marked  features 
of  English  village  life  then,  as  now,  is  the  way  in 
which  all  classes  are  brought  into  some  sort  of 
intimacy,  even  if  it  is  only  the  intimacy  of  patron- 
age and  charity.  The  squire  and  the  shepherd, 
the  parson  and  the  blacksmith,  know  each  other's 
names  and  ways  and  families.  But  even  in 
out-of-the-world  Burnham  Thorpe  the  restlessness 
and  dissatisfaction  that  across  the  Channel  was 

69 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

so  soon  to  burst  into  the  amazing  flame  of  the 
French  Revolution,  was  manifesting  itself  in  a 
milder  form.  In  the  second  paragraph  of  this 
letter  of  Nelson's  he  says  : 

"  Our  Lord  Lieutenant  has  summoned  a  meeting 
of  the  Norfolk  Justices  on  Tuesday  next,  the  llth  ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  but  they  will  resolve  to  do 
collectively  what  none  of  them  chose  to  do 
individually — to  take  away  the  licenses  from  those 
public-houses  who  allow  of  improper  societies 
meeting  at  them,  and  to  take  up  those  incendiaries 
who  go  from  ale-house  to  ale-house,  advising  the 
poor  people  to  pay  no  taxes,  &c.  In  this  neigh- 
bourhood, a  person  of  the  name  of  Priestley,  a 
clergyman,  has  held  this  language  to  a  circle  of 
ten  miles  round  him  ;  and,  a  few  days  past,  I  asked 
a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  '  Why,  as  such  a  man's 
conduct  was  known,  that  he  was  not  taken  up  ?  ' 
His  answer  was,  '  that  no  Justice  would  render 
himself  unpopular  at  this  time,  by  being  singular ; 
for  that  his  life  and  property  were  gone,  if  the  mob 
arose  :  but  that  when  the  Justices  all  agreed  to 
act  in  an  uniform  manner,  this  man  should 
certainly  be  taken  hold  of,  if  he  went  on  with 
such  conduct.'  : 

But  Nelson's  natural  sympathy  with  the  op- 
pressed and  troubled  shows  itself  as  he  goes  on 
in  his  analysis  of  the  labourer's  position  :  '  That 
the  poor  labourer  should  have  been  seduced  by 
promises  and  hopes  of  better  times,  your  Royal 
Highness  will  not  wonder  at,  when  I  assure  you, 

70 


OLD    PRINT    OF    THE    ADMIRALTY,    WHITEHALL,    CIRCA    1800. 


RURAL  YEARS 

that  they  are  really  in  want  of  everything  to 
make  life  comfortable."  [Originally  his  words 
were,  "  Hunger  is  a  sharp  thorn,  and  they  are  not 
only  in  want  of  food  sufficient,  but  of  clothes  and 
firing."]  '*  Part  of  their  wants,  perhaps,  were 
unavoidable,  from  the  dearness  of  every  article 
of  life  ;  but  much  has  arose  from  the  neglect  of 
the  Country  Gentlemen,  in  not  making  their 
farmers  raise  their  wages,  in  some  small  pro- 
portion, as  the  prices  of  necessaries  increased. 
The  enclosed  paper  will  give  your  Royal  Highness 
an  idea  of  their  situation.  It  is  most  favourable  ; 
but  I  have  been  careful  that  no  Country  Gentleman 
should  have  it  in  his  power  to  say,  I  had  pointed 
out  the  wants  of  the  poor  greater  than  they  really 
are.  Their  wages  have  been  raised  within  these 
three  weeks,  pretty  generally,  one  shilling  a  week  : 
had  it  been  done  some  time  past,  they  would  not 
have  been  discontented,  for  a  want  of  loyalty 
is  not  amongst  their  faults ;  and  many  of  their 
superiors,  in  many  instances,  might  have  imitated 
their  conduct  with  advantage." 

The  "  enclosed  paper  "  shows  how  much  interest 
Nelson  had  given  to  the  subject,  and  he  heads  it, 
"  An  Account  of  the  Earnings  and  Expenses  of 
a  Labourer  in  Norfolk,  with  a  Wife  and  Three 
Children,  Supposing  that  he  is  not  to  be  One  Day 
Kept  from  Labour  in  the  Whole  Year." 


71 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

£    s.    d. 

One  pair  of  Man's  shoes,  7s.,  one 
pair  of  Women's,  4s.  6d.,  one  pair  for 
each  of  the  three  Children,  10s.  6d., 
and  £1  Is.  for  mending. 


Shoes  and  Mending 

230 

Shirts,  two 

0  10    0 

Breeches  or  Jacket 

030 

Woman's  and  Children's  clothes 

160 

Soap,  12  Ibs. 

0    8  10 

Candles,  6  Ibs. 

040 

Coals,  one  chaldron  and  a  half 

1  19    0 

House  Rent 

200 

8  13  10 

The  advanced  prices. 

£    s.     d. 

From  Oct.  10th  to  March  31st,  at  9s. 

per  week 

11  14     0 

From  March  31st  to  June  30th,  at  8s. 

per  week 

540 

From  June  30th  to  Aug.  24th,  turnip- 

hoeing  and  hay-harvest 

300 

Harvest 

220 

Woman's  gleaning 

110 

Total  earnings 

23     1     0 

£    s.     d. 

Earnings 

23     1     0 

Clothes,  &c. 

8  13  10 

For  food,  five  people,  14    7     2 

72 


RURAL  YEARS 

"  Not  quite  twopence  a  day  for  each  person  ; 
and  to  drink  nothing  but  water,  for  beer  our  poor 
labourers  never  taste,  unless  they  are  tempted, 
which  is  too  often  the  case,  to  go  to  the  Alehouse." 

This  document  seems  to  throw  a  new  light  on 
Nelson's  character,  and  shows  how  closely  he  had 
studied  the  poor  lot  of  the  men  who  ploughed 
and  sowed  the  land,  toiling  heavily  throughout 
the  year  for  the  sum  of  twenty-three  pounds. 
Nelson's  sympathies  were  ever  quick  for  those 
who  suffered  wrong,  as  he  showed  practically  in 
the  thought  he  took  for  his  seamen  in  later  years. 
It  was  never  in  his  power  to  do  anything  for 
the  agricultural  labourer,  but  that  he  was  not 
neglectful  of  his  needs  this  paper  proves. 

The  year  1792  closes  quietly,  with  the  annual 
visit  to  the  Walpoles  at  Wolterton,  where  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  Nelson  were  also ;  with  gossipy 
letters  to  Catherine,  in  which  Nelson  displays 
his  almost  feminine  interest  in  matrimonial  matters. 
He  thinks  it  worth  a  postscript  to  add  on  one 
occasion,  "  The  Martins  and  Crowes  are  all  single," 
and  seems  to  be  quite  dissatisfied  with  his  Burn- 
ham  acquaintance  because  "  No  marriage  likely 
to  take  place  with  any  of  them."  He  was  evi- 
dently somewhat  inclined  to  be  a  match-maker. 
His  letters,  both  before  and  after  his  own  marriage, 
are  full  of  interested  inquiries  as  to  who  was  going 
to  marry  whom,  and  he  always  reports  any  little 
love  affairs  which  come  to  his  knowledge.  He 
probably  fell  into  the  habit  of  taking  this  interest 

73 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

in  the  affairs  of  his  neighbours  during  these  quiet 
years  at  Burnham  Thorpe,  when  he  was  so  much 
surrounded  by  feminine  society  and  family  gossip, 
and  when  any  little  happening  was  of  so  much 
importance  in  producing  a  stir  in  the  placid 
stream  of  village  life.  The  society  of  his  father, 
too,  would  tend  to  create  an  interest  in  these 
small  matters,  for  we  see  the  gentle  white-haired 
Rector  a  very  connoisseur  in  "  chatt,"  and  turning 
over  every  trifling  episode  with  delicate  and  ap- 
preciative fingers,  extracting  from  it  the  last  morsel 
of  enjoyment.  Like  that  other  and  greater  divine, 
Jeremy  Taylor,  the  Reverend  Edmund  Nelson 
might  say,  in  the  gentleness  and  sweetness  of  his 
nature  :  "I  sleep,  I  drink  and  eat,  I  read  and 
meditate.  I  walk  in  my  neighbour's  pleasant  fields 
and  see  the  varieties  of  natural  beauty.  I  delight 
in  all  that  in  which  God  delights,  that  is  in  virtue 
and  wisdom  and  the  whole  Creation,  and  in  God 
Himself.  And  he  that  hath  so  many  forms  of  joy 
so  great,  is  very  much  in  love  with  sorrow  and 
peevishness,  who  loseth  all  these  pleasures  to  sit 
down  upon  his  little  handful  of  thorns."  In  his 
own  way  he  was  a  true  philosopher,  even  if  of  no 
heroic  mould,  for  while  his  circumstances  and 
income  were  so  restricted,  owing  to  the  expenses 
of  his  rather  ne'er-do-well  sons,  Suckling  and 
Edmund,  that  he  could  no  longer  pay  his  much 
enjoyed  and  beneficial  visits  to  "  Bladud's  Springs," 
and  "  Stay  at  home  "  had  to  be  his  maxim,  he 
yet  made  the  best  of  his  limited  pleasures,  and 

74 


RURAL  YEARS 

always  wrote  cheerful  and  charming  letters  to  his 
children. 

Of  these  children,  Catherine,  in  the  worldly 
sense,  was  the  most  fortunate  and  prosperous, 
not  only  in  her  kind  and  indulgent  husband — how 
good  George  Matcham  must  have  been  to  live 
with  is  shown  by  his  face  in  a  miniature  of  him 
possessed  by  the  family,  quite  apart  from  other 
evidences  of  his  delightful  personality — but  in  the 
comfortable  supply  of  wealth  which  enabled  her 
to  travel  about  and  indulge  her  tastes  so  pleasantly. 
At  this  time  the  Matchams  had  deserted  Norfolk, 
having  left  Barton  and  bought  an  estate  at 
Shepherd's  Spring  in  Hampshire. 

The  end  of  quiet  years,  of  half-pay,  obscurity, 
and  Burnham  Thorpe,  was  very  near  with  the 
opening  of  1793.  For  some  months,  under  the 
threatening  aspect  of  affairs  across  the  Channel, 
Nelson  had  been  thinking  that  "  very  soon  every 
individual  will  be  called  forth  to  show  himself," 
and  his  professional  instinct  and  all  his  hidden 
passion  for  great  deeds  naturally  told  him  that 
his  proper  way  of  showing  himself  was  at  sea. 
Napoleon's  great  wars  and  England's  greater  resist- 
ance were  already  rising  slowly  above  the  horizon 
of  the  future.  It  was  the  excesses  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary spirit  in  France,  the  insolent  threats 
of  the  Convention,  that  drove  Pitt  to  prepare  for 
war  and  opened  the  gates  of  his  destiny  to  Nelson. 
Previous  neglect  and  deafness  to  his  applications 
were  quite  forgotten  when  at  last  he  was  offered 

75 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

a  ship,  a  fine  sixty-four.  From  London,  whither 
he  had  gone,  Nelson  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  After 
clouds  comes  sunshine.  The  Admiralty  so  smile 
upon  me,  that  really  I  am  as  much  surprised  as 
when  they  frowned."  He  was  back  at  Burnham 
a  little  later,  trying  to  raise  men  for  his  ship,  the 
Agamemnon  :  "I  have  sent  out  a  Lieutenant  and 
four  Midshipmen  to  get  men  at  every  sea-port  in 
Norfolk,  and  to  forward  them  to  Lynn  and  Yar- 
mouth." While  he  was  still  at  Burnham  Thorpe 
his  good  father  wrote  to  Catherine  that  her  brother's 
getting  a  ship  "  though  wished  for,  puts  us  in  a 
little  Hurry.  Poor  Mrs.  Nelson  will,  I  hope,  bear 
up  with  a  degree  of  cheerfullness  at  the  separation 
from  so  Kind  a  Husband,  and  my  own  loss  of  the 
constant  friendly  and  filiall  regard  I  have  ex- 
perienced, I  do  feell." 

Before  he  left  Burnham  this  time  Nelson  gave 
a  feast  to  the  villagers  at  the  Inn,  still  standing 
unaltered  and  known  nowadays  as  the  "  Lord 
Nelson."  It  is  set  back  from  the  road  and  faces 
across  the  green  towards  the  church.  The  room 
in  which  the  rural  youth  partook  of  this  farewell 
dinner  is  somewhat  small  and  dark,  with  its  low 
ceiling;  "  like  a  ship's  cabin,"  as  was  said,  with 
its  painted  wood-panelled  walls  and  unusual 
number  of  five  doors.  It  has  one  deep-recessed 
window,  square  set,  with  a  deep  sill,  and  from 
this  window  Nelson  watched  with  some  amusement 
a  small  boy  named  High  fighting  a  bigger  one. 
The  cause  of  the  quarrel  was  that  High  thought 

76 


RURAL  YEARS 

he  should  have  been  invited  to  the  banquet  and 
the  older  boy  told  him  he  was  too  young — an  insult 
that  could  only  be  answered  with  fists.  Pleased 
at  the  plucky  lad,  Nelson  declared  it  was  "  a 
right  valiant  fight,"  and  the  name  "  Valiant " 
stuck  to  High  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  he  not  un- 
naturally feeling  that  it  was  a  title  of  honour 
when  it  was  conferred  by  Nelson. 

At  the  beginning  of  February  Captain  Nelson 
received  notice  from  the  Admiralty  that  the 
Agamemnon  was  in  readiness  to  be  commissioned, 
and  so  he  said  farewell  to  his  wife  and  his  father, 
the  village  where  he  was  born  and  all  his  friends, 
and  on  the  morning  of  February  4th  he  left  Burn- 
ham  and  set  out  "  in  Health  and  Great  Spirits." 
Several  men  from  the  Burnhams  joined  his  ship, 
for  his  character  was  already  sufficiently  known 
to  make  men  anxious  to  serve  with  him.  The 
sons  of  three  Norfolk  gentlemen  went  with  him 
as  midshipmen,  one  of  whom  was  William  Hoste, 
who  was  introduced  to  him  by  Mr.  Coke.  He 
had  also  with  him  in  the  Agamemnon  his  young 
stepson,  Josiah  Nisbet,  and  his  servant  Frank 
Lepee.  His  wife  was  to  stay  a  few  weeks  longer 
at  the  Parsonage  or  in  the  Rector's  cottage  at 
Burnham  Ulph,  and  then  she  was  to  pay  a  visit 
to  the  William  Nelsons  at  Hillborough,  while  she 
looked  for  comfortable  lodgings  at  Swaffham, 
where  she  meant  to  settle  in  her  husband's 
absence — it  is  evident  that  Burnham,  so 
remote  and  quiet,  had  little  hold  on  her, 

77 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

though  she  had  spent  most  of  her  married  life 
there. 

On  February  llth,  1793,  the  Great  War,  which 
had  its  root  in  the  French  Revolution,  broke  out. 
Louis  XVI.  had  been  beheaded ;  in  Danton's 
violent  words,  typical  of  the  French  attitude, 
"  The  coalized  Kings  threaten  us ;  we  hurl  at 
their  feet,  as  gage  of  battle,  the  Head  of  a  King." 
The  colossal  struggle  of  nations  was  entering  on 
its  earliest  phases.  From  that  struggle  emerged 
two  names  till  then  unknown,  two  names  that 
history  will  never  forget,  embodying  as  they  do 
the  supremest  military  and  naval  genius  of  the 
world — Napoleon  and  Nelson. 


78 


CHAPTER  V:    HOME  LETTERS. 


1 


warlike  aspects  of  Nelson's  character 
and  career  have  been  so  emphasised  that 
here  they  may  be  almost  ignored.  It  is 
not  the  frail  and  valiant  figure  of  the  sailor  setting 
forth  to  turn  the  tide  of  battles,  defying  tradition, 
ignoring  authority,  and  snatching  triumph  where 
others  had  been  content  with  a  moderate  success 
— it  is  not  this  indomitable  and  familiar  figure 
we  follow,  but  the  Nelson  his  family  knew  and 
loved,  whose  thoughts  were  ever  tender  to  home, 
and  unforgetful  even  amid  the  thunderous  years 
of  the  Great  War. 

To  us  history  is  always  in  the  past,  a  majestic 
muse,  concerned  with  nothing  less  than  the  fall 
of  kingdoms  and  the  destinies  of  battle.  We 
feel  that  our  ancestors  lived  under  the  shadow  of 
her  wings  and  had  no  thoughts  or  fears  save  for 
these  national  events.  The  histories  of  England 
during  the  long  struggle  with  France  give  an 
unrelieved  impression  of  strain  and  effort,  battles 
lost  or  won  the  sole  concern  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion. But  the  annals  of  the  Nelson  family  show 
how  very  false  and  partial  is  that  impression. 
It  is  the  quietness  of  these  chronicles  of  the  years 
of  the  Great  War,  written  by  the  very  family  that 

79  ' 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

had  borne  the  hero  of  that  war,  which  stand  out. 
Once  more  we  realise  that  strange,  unchanging 
stillness  of  the  English  countryside  which  remains 
unshaken  and  unaltered  by  all  the  tumult  of  the 
world.  In  historic  retrospect  the  battles  of  St. 
Vincent  or  the  Nile  are  seen  as  so  tremendous 
that  it  is  difficult  to  realise  how  naturally  they 
came  to  the  family  most  intimately  concerned  ; 
how  the  great  things  that  history  proclaims  were 
mingled  with  the  little  things  that  only  a  woman 
remembers. 

At  the  time  he  commissioned  the  Agamemnon 
we  see  Nelson  in  the  early  maturity  of  his  powers, 
full  of  life  and  hope  and  that  high  confidence  in 
himself  which  sprang  from  secret  sources  as  yet 
unknown  to  the  world.  He  was  happy  in  his 
home  life — for  it  was  not  till  he  knew  Emma 
Hamilton  that  he  realised  his  wife's  deficiencies 
and  his  own  passionate  needs — with  an  unblem- 
ished name  and  a  temper  unfretted  by  all  the 
suffering  his  wounds  brought  him,  exercising  for 
the  first  time  his  wonderful  gift  of  inspiring  men 
and  welding  them  to  his  wishes.  It  was  very 
simple,  this  gift;  it  was  only  that  he  loved  and 
believed  in  them  and  showed  that  he  did  so  with 
an  impulsiveness  which  disdained  cold  caution. 
As  a  naval  officer,  as  a  leader  of  men,  he  first 
becomes  completely  himself  on  the  quarter-deck 
of  the  Agamemnon ;  she  is  one  of  his  beloved  ships, 
though  she  took  no  part  in  his  four  great  battles. 
So  soon  as  he  was  appointed  he  wrote  to  his 

80 


BOARD  ROOM  AT  THE  ADMIRALTY. 

From  an  Aquatint  after  Puyin  and  Roidandsnn. 


HOME  LETTERS 

brother  from  Chatham,  "  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
telling  you  that  my  Ship  is,  without  exception, 
the  finest  64  in  the  service,  and  has  the  character 
of  sailing  most  remarkably  well."  A  little  later, 
when  at  Spithead,  he  said,  "  We  are  all  well : 
indeed,  nobody  can  be  ill  with  my  Ship's  company, 
they  are  so  fine  a  set."  To  have  been  with  him 
in  the  old  Agamemnon  was  ever  afterwards  to  be 
assured  of  his  goodwill. 

It  was  in  the  Agamemnon  that  he  first  sailed  into 
the  Bay  of  Naples,  having  left  the  blockade  before 
Toulon,  at  Lord  Hood's  orders,  on  the  eve  of  the 
surrender  of  the  French  arsenal  and  dockyard. 
"  I  should  have  liked,"  he  told  his  wife,  "  to  have 
stayed  a  day  longer  with  the  fleet,  when  they 
entered  the  harbour,  but  service  could  not  be 
neglected  for  any  private  gratification."  It  was  on 
this  visit  to  Naples  that  he  first  met  Lady  Hamilton, 
though  he  was  too  much  taken  up  with  war  and 
affairs  to  give  any  special  thought  to  her.  He 
told  his  wife  with  cool  indifference,  "  She  is  a 
young  woman  of  amiable  manners,  and  who  does 
honour  to  the  station  to  which  she  is  raised." 
To  his  wife  at  about  this  same  time  he  had  written  : 
"  How  I  long  to  have  a  letter  from  you  :  next  to 
being  with  you,  it  is  the  greatest  pleasure  I  can 
receive.  The  being  united  to  such  a  good  woman, 
I  look  back  to  as  the  happiest  period  of  my  life ; 
and  as  I  cannot  here  show  my  affection  to  you, 
I  do  it  doubly  to  Josiah,  who  deserves  it,  as 
well  on  his  own  account  as  on  yours,  for  he^is 

81  G^ 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

a  real  good   boy,  and   most  affectionately  loves 
me." 

How  much  the  private  thoughts  of  "  our  dear, 
distant,  Navall  Friend,"  as  his  father  quaintly 
calls  him,  turned  homewards,  is  shown  by  his 
saying  in  a  letter  to  this  same  father,  "  I  consider 
you  now  as  at  high  harvest,  and  hope  you  have 
good  weather  and  good  crops."  How  different 
those  peaceful  fields  of  Burnham  to  his  own 
situation  before  Toulon,  before  a  France  where, 
as  he  says,  "  there  are  now  only  two  descriptions 
of  people  .  .  .  the  one  drunk  and  mad ;  the 
other,  with  horror  painted  hi  their  faces,  are 
absolutely  starving  ;  yet  nothing  brings  them  to 
their  senses."  By  very  emphasis  of  contrast 
his  father's  letters  must  have  had  a  special  value 
when  read  amid  such  scenes.  Such  a  letter  as 
this,  for  instance  :  "  Every  mark  of  my  affection 
you  may  justly  expect ;  and  it  gives  me  satis- 
faction to  reflect  on  the  many  proofs  I  have  had 
of  your  disposition  to  observe  those  duties  which 
each  relation  in  life  calls  for.  The  approbation 
of  your  own  mind  is  far  more  pleasing  than  any 
supposed  partiality  of  mine ;  though  a  reward 
infinitely  short  of  what  moral  virtue,  which  is  an 
attendant  on  true  Religion,  shall  one  day  receive. 
-The  principal  domestic  occurrence  at  this  junc- 
ture is  that  of  your  brother's  ordination  [Suckling]. 
Thus  far,  thank  God,  our  design  is  accomplished  : 
all  proceeds  favourably,  and  there  is  good  hope 
he  may  prove  a  worthy  member  of  society.  Farm- 

82 


HOME  LETTERS 

ing  goes  on  well ;  and  at  Christmas  I  look  forward 
for  the  auditing  my  accounts  to  your  own  person  ; 
Agamemnon  and  her  crew  being  either  honourably 
discharged,  or  laid  up  for  the  winter  in  safety. 
O  England  !  blessed  art  thou  among  the  Isles, 
for  thy  internal  prosperity.  In  peace  and  plenty 
may  thy  counsellors  preserve  thee.  .  .  .As  to 
myself,  the  material  machine  keeps  pretty  nearly 
the  same  periodical  movement ;  the  repairs  must 
be  by  a  very  nice  delicate  touch,  and  my  mind  is 
so  fortified  as  to  meet  all  common  events  with 
calmness :  ever  steady  to  my  position,  that  the 
good  of  every  man's  life  preponderates  over  the 
evil.  God  bless  you." 

Amidst  all  the  excitements  of  the  surrender  and 
later  evacuation  of  Toulon,  Nelson  never  ceased 
to  take  the  closest  interest  in  his  home  affairs, 
though  he  seems  to  have  been  a  little  vexed  on 
hearing  that  his  wife  "was  not  perfectly  well" 
owing  to  an  anxiety  which  was  very  natural. 
"  Why  should  you  alarm  yourself  ?  "  he  asks  her, 
"  I  am  well,  your  son  is  well,  and  we  are  as  com- 
fortable in  every  respect  as  the  nature  of  our 
service  will  admit."  But  amid  the  dreadfulness 
of  the  Toulon  evacuation  he  writes  to  her  more 
feelingly :  "  Everything  which  domestic  wars 
produce  usually,  is  multiplied  at  Toulon.  Fathers 
are  here  without  their  families,  families  without 
their  fathers.  In  short,  all  is  horror.  ...  I  cannot 
write  all :  my  mind  is  deeply  impressed  with  grief. 
Each  teller  makes  the  scene  more  horrible."  But 

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even  so,  small  things  cheer  him,  as  they  always  have 
cheered  humanity  :  "I  am  glad  to  hear  my  mare 
is  not  sold  "  ;  or,  to  his  wife,  "  Hoste  is  indeed  a 
most  exceeding  good  boy,  and  will  shine  in  our 
Service.  We  shall  talk  these  matters  over  again 
in  a  winter's  evening." 

This  was  the  young  William  Hoste,  son  of  the 
Reverend  Dixon  Hoste,  of  Godwick  Hall,  near 
Rougham,  who  had  been  introduced  to  him  by 
Thomas  William  Coke.  Nelson  was  very  fond  of 
the  boy  who  so  amply  fulfilled  his  prophecy  and 
became  an  ornament  to  the  naval  service.  To  the 
boy's  father,  in  February,  1794,  Nelson  wrote  the 
following  letter — how  quick  was  his  pen  in  the 
"  noble  pleasure  of  praising  "  his  published  corres- 
pondence proves — "  You  cannot  receive  much 
more  pleasure  in  reading  this  letter  than  I  have  in 
writing  it,  to  say,  that  your  Son  is  everything 
which  his  dearest  friends  can  wish  him  to  be  ; 
and  is  a  strong  proof  that  the  greatest  gallantry 
may  lie  under  the  most  gentle  behaviour.  Two 
days  ago  it  was  necessary  to  take  a  small  Vessel 
from  a  number  of  people  who  had  got  on  shore 
to  prevent  us.  She  was  carried  in  high  style, 
and  your  good  Son  was  by  my  side."  A  few  months 
later  he  again  wrote  from  the  camp  at  Bastia  to 
Hoste's  father  about  the  boy,  who,  he  says, 
"  highly  deserves  everything  I  can  do  to  make  him 
happy.  Do  not  spoil  him  by  giving  him  too  much 
money  ;  he  has  all  that  he  wishes — sometimes 
more.  I  love  him  ;  therefore  shall  say  no  more 

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on  that  subject."  Towards  the  end  of  the  same 
letter  he  adds,  "  Your  dear  boy  wished  much  to 
come  ashore  with  me,  and  if  I  had  not  thought 
the  danger  was  too  great,  I  should  have  brought 
him.  However,  he  has  been  several  times  to  see 
me." 

Nelson  commonly  called  his  midshipmen  and 
sometimes  his  junior  officers  his  "  children,"  and 
on  some  of  them,  as  Hoste,  and  Edward  Parker, 
of  whom  he  said  in  his  poignant  way,  "  He  is  my 
child,  for  I  found  him  in  distress,"  he  lavished  a 
most  tender  love — a  love  out  of  all  proportion,  as 
it  would  seem  to  colder  natures  ;  a  love  which 
wrung  his  heart  and  left  him  ill  and  broken  if 
any  harm  befell  these  young  men  he  cherished. 
For  that  strange  power  of  loving  which  was  in 
him,  which  gave  him  his  almost  magnetic  influence 
over  others,  Nelson  paid  heavily  in  suffering. 
Viewed  in  one  aspect  his  later  life,  from  the  Nile 
to  his  death,  is  one  tragedy  of  giving  and  craving 
love  :  he  gave  his  heart  to  a  woman,  to  his  child, 
to  some  of  his  officers  ;  he  gave  his  life  to  his 
country.  Whatever  his  failings,  he  was  like  the 
heroes  of  Thucydides  :  "  Their  bodies  they  devote 
to  their  country,  as  though  they  belonged  to 
other  men  ;  their  true  self  is  their  mind  which  is 
most  truly  their  own  when  employed  in  her 
service." 

Separation  from  his  wife  at  this  time  of  1794 
seems  to  have  produced  more  ardour  towards  her 
than  was  quite  usual  with  him.  In  one  letter 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

he  says :  "I  need  not,  I  am  certain,  say,  that  all 
my  joy  is  placed  in  you,  I  have  none  separated 
from  you ;  you  are  present  to  my  imagination 
be  where  I  will.  I  am  convinced  you  feel  interested 
in  every  action  of  my  life ;  and  my  exultation  in 
victory  is  two-fold,  knowing  that  you  partake  of 
it.  Only  recollect  that  a  brave  man  dies  but  once, 
a  coward  all  his  life  long.  We  cannot  escape  death  ; 
and  should  it  happen  to  me  in  this  place,  remember 
it  is  the  will  of  Him,  in  whose  hands  are  the  issues 
of  life  and  death." 

But  unshrinkingly  as  he  always  faced  the  chances 

of  death  he  had  his  natural  home-plans  like  other 

men,  even  in  the  midst  of  war.     To  his  brother 

William  he  wrote,  "  I  feel  myself  very  much  obliged 

by  your  offer  about  the  farm,  but  don't  think  I 

shall  make  prize-money  enough  to  purchase  an 

estate ;    and  if  I  do,  must  look  out  for  a  house 

and  grounds  in  some  measure  ready  made.     It  is 

too  late  for  me  to  begin.     I  assure  you  and  Mrs. 

Nelson  I  feel  myself  very  much  obliged  by  your 

attention   to    my   Mrs.    Nelson."     He   says   that 

"  all  your  Hillborough  and  S  waff  ham  news  "    is 

more  interesting  to  him  than  that  given  in  the 

public  prints.     In  September  he  tells  his  wife : 

"  I  expect  to  see  you  in  the  fall  of  the  year ;   and 

although  I  shall  not  bring  with  me  either  riches 

or  honours,  yet  I  natter  myself  I  shall  bring  an 

unblemished  character.     It  always  rejoices  me  to 

hear  that  you  are  comfortable,  and  that  my  friends 

are  attentive  to  you.     I  hope  we  shall  find  some 

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snug  cottage,  whenever  we  may  be  obliged  to  quit 
the  Parsonage." 

Two  months  earlier  than  this  letter  Nelson 
had  practically  lost  the  sight  of  his  right  eye  at 
the  siege  of  Calvi,  though  he  did  not  inform  his 
wife  of  the  fact  till  some  weeks  afterwards  :  "As 
it  is  all  past,  I  may  tell  you,  that  on  the  10th  of 
July,  a  shot  having  hit  our  battery,  the  splinters 
and  stones  from  it  struck  me  with  great  violence 
in  the  face  and  breast.  Although  the  blow  was 
so  severe  as  to  occasion  a  great  flow  of  blood  from 
my  head,  yet  I  most  fortunately  escaped,  having 
only  my  right  eye  nearly  deprived  of  its  sight : 
it  was  cut  down,  but  is  so  far  recovered,  as  for  me 
to  be  able  to  distinguish  light  from  darkness.  As 
to  all  the  purposes  of  use,  it  is  gone  ;  however, 
the  blemish  is  nothing,  not  to  be  perceived,  unless 
told.  The  pupil  is  nearly  the  size  of  the  blue  part, 
I  don't  know  the  name." 

His  father  wrote  to  him  on  hearing  of  this  loss. 
"  It  is  well  known  that  the  predestinarian  doctrine 
is  among  the  creeds  of  military  men,"  he  began 
in  his  solemn,  old-world  way  ;  "  it  may  sometimes 
be  useful ;  yet  it  must  not  exclude  the  confidence 
Christianity  preaches  of  a  particular  Providence, 
which  directs  all  events.  It  was  an  unerring  power, 
wise  and  good,  which  diminished  the  force  of  the 
blow  by  which  your  eye  was  lost ;  and  we  thank 
the  hand  that  spared  you,  spared  you  for  future 
good,  for  example,  and  instruction  in  many 
subsequent  years.  There  is  no  fear  that  flattery 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

can  come  from  me ;  but  I  sometimes  wipe  away 
the  tear  of  joy,  at  hearing  your  character  in  every 
point  of  view  so  well  spoken  of.  .  .  .Your  lot 
is  cast,  but  the  whole  disposing  thereof  is  of  the 
Lord :  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  numbered 
—a  most  comfortable  doctrine." 

The  letter  his  wife  must  have  written  on  this 
occasion  has  not  apparently  been  preserved,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  she  would  find  the  "  comfortable 
doctrine  "  so  sustaining  as  the  peaceful  and  truly 
pious  old  man,  her  father-in-law.  Nelson,  finding 
that  his  hopes  of  returning  home  in  the  autumn 
would  not  be  fulfilled,  hopes  that  she  "  will  spend 
the  winter  cheerfully.  The  Wolterton  family, 
I  am  sure,  will  be  happy  to  receive  you  for  as  long 
a  time  as  you  please.  Do  not  repine  at  my 
absence  ;  before  spring  I  hope  we  shall  have  peace, 
when  we  must  look  out  for  some  little  cottage : 
I  assure  you  I  shall  return  to  the  plough  with 
redoubled  glee." 

With  his  warm  heart  and  feeling  Nelson  did  not 
neglect  to  do  something  to  make  the  winter  more 
comfortable  to  the  poor  of  his  native  village.  For 
this  purpose  he  sent  his  father  a  gift  of  money, 
which  the  Rector  acknowledged  from  Bath,  where, 
now  that  his  affairs  were  a  little  more  prosperous, 
he  always  refuged  from  the  cold  :  "I  have  received 
your  letter  with  those  contents,  which  are  expres- 
sive of  a  benevolent  and  truly  Christian  heart ; 
and  I  have  endeavoured  to  distribute  your  Christ- 
mas gift  in  the  best  manner  I  could  think  of, 

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chiefly  in  a  little  warm  clothing  to  the  widows  and 
orphans,  and  very  old  men :  Blessed  is  the  man 
who  considereth  the  poor  and  needy.  He,  who 
has  been  marvellously  your  shield,  will  still,  I 
hope,  and  pray,  be  your  protector.  Before  I  see 
Burnham,  I  must  shake  hands  with  the  Agamem- 
non's Captain,  Horatio  Nelson,  whose  friendship, 
as  well  as  affection,  I  can  rely  upon." 

Another  year  was  to  go  by,  that  of  1795,  and 
find  at  its  close  events  repeating  themselves— 
Nelson  still  at  sea  and  the  Rector  at  Bath,  writing 
to  him  :  *  In  days  of  peace,  you  will,  I  hope, 
enjoy  your  cottage.  Agreeably  to  your  wishes, 
we  have  taken  a  small  house  here  for  three  years  : 
the  sun  must  return  upon  us  before  I  can  revisit 
Burnham." 

In  a  professional  sense,  this  year  was  memorable 
for  Hotham's  engagement  with  the  French  fleet, 
in  which  Nelson  took  so  distinguished  and  daring 
a  part,  foreshadowing  his  deeds  to  follow.  As  he 
said  to  his  wife,  "  Sure  I  am,  had  I  commanded 
our  Fleet  on  the  14th,  that  either  the  whole  French 
Fleet  would  have  graced  my  triumph,  or  I  should 
have  been  in  a  confounded  scrape."  He  told  her 
how  he  went  on  board  the  flagship  and  begged 
the  Admiral  to  follow  the  enemy,  "  But  he,  much 
cooler  than  myself,  said,  '  We  must  be  contented, 
we  have  done  very  well.'  Now,  had  we  taken 
ten  Sail,  and  had  allowed  the  eleventh  to  escape, 
when  it  had  been  possible  to  have  got  at  her,  I 
could  never  have  called  it  well  done." 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

There  speaks  Nelson  in  his  authentic  and  un- 
mistakable voice — that  is  the  accent  of  the  Nile 
and  the  Baltic.  Already  he  is  prepared  and  fit 
for  his  destiny.  But  there  are  frequent  signs 
during  1795  that  he  is  tired  of  an  unsatisfactory 
war  and  turning  to  thoughts  of  home  and  rural  life, 
and  his  ambitions  never  seem  to  soar  beyond  the 
"  very  small  cottage  "  where  "  I  shall  be  as  happy 
as  in  a  house  as  large  as  Holkham."  He  writes : 
"  Fame  says  I  am  likely  to  be  an  Admiral ;  I 
hope  not,"  and  declares  "  I  shall  return  again 
to  the  farm  with  no  small  degree  of  satisfaction  : 
it  is  the  happiest  of  lives  if  people  will  but  be 
contented."  Again,  "  When  I  get  through  this 
campaign,  I  think  myself  I  ought  to  rest.  I 
hope  to  God  the  war  will  be  over,  and  that  I  may 
return  to  you  in  peace  and  quietness.  A  little 
farm,  and  my  good  name,  form  all  my  wants  and 
wishes."  A  year  later  the  longing  is  still  on  him, 
'  Happy,  happy  shall  I  be  to  return  to  a  little  but 
neat  cottage,"  he  tells  his  wife,  and  repeats  the 
same  remark  to  his  father  when  sending  him  money 
for  the  Burnham  poor.  "  Last  year,  from  various 
causes,  I  missed  the  opportunity  of  sending  some- 
thing to  the  poor.  I  send  it  in  time  this  year,  and 
at  the  proper  time  you  will  dispose  of  it."  Many 
other  statements  of  the  kind  may  be  found  in  his 
letters  at  this  time — the  "  neat  cottage  "  and  the 
"plough"  had  become  almost  a  formula  with  him, 
to  be  used  at  any  time  he  felt  weary  or  discon- 
tented with  the  Naval  Service.  It  was  no  wonder 

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if  he  longed  for  Norfolk  after  three  years'  absence, 
when  he  had  gone  through  so  much  arduous  and 
unrewarded  toil  and  danger,  for  as  he  said,  "  God 
knows,  instead  of  riches,  my  little  fortune  has 
been  diminished  in  the  Service." 

But  1796  was  a  memorable  year,  and  brought 
about  a  change  in  Nelson's  desire  to  go  home,  for 
Jervis  had  become  Commander-in-Chief,  and  in 
him  Nelson  met  a  kindred  spirit,  responsive  to  his 
mind.  It  was  under  Jervis' s  command — actually 
in  the  first  case,  technically  in  the  second — that 
Nelson  achieved  his  first  two  outstanding  successes. 
The  sympathy  that  sprang  up  between  the  some- 
what harsh  Admiral  and  his  daring  subordinate 
was  a  curious  one,  considering  their  temperaments, 
but  very  fortunate  for  England.  Jervis  was  a 
just  man,  but  he  could  be  most  forbidding  :  Nelson 
was  generous,  but  he  often  took  violent  dislikes. 
Had  either  of  them  been  repelled  by  the  other — 
and  it  would  not  have  been  surprising  had  Jervis 
in  particular  failed  to  understand  the  passionate, 
impetuous,  unorthodox  little  Captain  of  the 
Agamemnon — it  would  have  been  a  real  misfortune. 
But,  instead,  for  Nelson  Jervis  laid  aside  his  char- 
acter of  martinet  and  disciplinarian  and  showed 
him  a  tenderness  even  that  he  displayed  to  no 
other.  Nelson's  affectionate  response  was  quick 
and  warm  :  "  We  look  up  to  you,"  he  told  him, 
"  as  we  have  always  found  you,  as  to  our  Father, 
under  whose  fostering  care  we  have  been  led  to 
fame."  Few  things  are  more  striking  in  our 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

naval  history  than  the  conjunction  of  these  two 
seamen ;  for  just  where  Jervis  could  not  go 
Nelson  stepped  in — they  dovetailed  into  each 
other's  needs  and  deficiencies.  With  Jervis  was 
authority  and  influence,  a  supreme  aptitude  for 
organisation  and  control,  but  he  was  lacking  in 
tactical  insight.  With  Nelson  was  genius  and  all 
its  difficult  accompaniments ;  he  needed  the  official 
backing  and  encouragement  and  understanding 
which  it  was  in  his  Chief's  power  to  give — and  to 
his  eternal  credit  Jervis  did  give  it  generously. 

It  was  the  year  after  he  came  under  Jervis's 
command  that  the  unfolding  genius  of  Nelson 
received  its  first  great  opportunity  and  embraced 
that  "  happy  moment  "  which,  as  he  said,  now  and 
then  offers.  He  had  that  quality  of  mental  daring 
which  is  essential  to  leadership :  as  a  captain  he 
risked  his  ship,  as  an  admiral  he  risked  his  fleet, 
to  win  victory  ;  and  that  the  disaster  which  would 
have  befallen  miscalculation  of  chances  never 
touched  his  triumphs,  is  proof  sufficient  of  his 
inspiration.  Up  to  the  battle  off  Cape  St.  Vincent 
on  February  14th,  1797,  England  knew  not  Nelson ; 
he  had  distinguished  himself  in  many  minor 
engagements,  he  had  displayed  indefatigable  energy, 
resource  and  courage,  but  as  all  these  actions  and 
sieges  of  his  took  place  abroad  the  English  people 
had  not  yet  realised  him,  though  he  was  beginning 
to  be  known  in  the  Navy. 

Then  came  the  morning  of  St.  Valentine's  Day, 
and  the  Spanish  Fleet  looming  up  through  the  fog 

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in  a  long,  irregular  line.  Jervis  had  fifteen  ships 
against  the  Spaniards'  twenty-seven,  but  one  of 
those  fifteen  was  the  Captain  and  Horatio  Nelson 
walked  her  quarter-deck.  Before  night  fell  Nelson 
had,  with  supreme  daring  and  success,  repaired  a 
tactical  blunder  of  Jervis' s,  and  unauthorised  and 
alone  flung  his  ship  in  the  very  path  of  the  Spanish 
retreat,  thus  turning  what  promised  to  be  a  mode- 
rate engagement  into  a  decisive  victory.  He  had, 
moreover,  with  the  picturesque  valour  that  always 
attended  him,  boarded  and  taken  single-handed 
two  Spanish  first-rates.  Thus  in  one  day  Nelson 
unfurled  his  bright  challenge  to  fame,  which  ever 
after  attended  him.  He  was  marked  as  the  Man 
of  Destiny  his  country  so  sorely  needed. 

Happily  we  have  record  of  how  the  news  of  his 
honour  and  valour  was  received  by  the  two 
nearest  to  him,  his  father  and  his  wife.  To  the 
tremulous  old  man,  who  was  so  easily  "  put  in  a 
Fuss  "  by  trifles,  it  may  easily  be  conceived  the 
event  was  almost  too  much.  It  was  only  his 
religious  sense  upheld  him  in  this  joy,  as  it  would 
have  upheld  him  in  sorrow.  From  Bath  he  wrote 
to  his  heroic  son  :  "I  thank  my  God  with  all  the 
power  of  a  grateful  soul,  for  the  mercies  He  has 
most  graciously  bestowed  on  me,  in  preserving 
you  amidst  the  imminent  perils  which  so  lately 
threatened  your  life  at  every  moment ;  and, 
amongst  other  innumerable  blessings,  I  must  not 
forget  the  bounty  of  Heaven  in  granting  you  a 
mind  that  rejoices  in  the  practice  of  those  eminent 

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virtues  which  form  great  and  good  characters. 
Not  only  my  few  acquaintances  here,  but  the  people 
in  general  met  me  at  every  corner  with  such  hand- 
some words,  that  I  was  obliged  to  retire  from  the 
public  eye.  A  wise  Moralist  has  observed,  that 
even  bliss  can  rise  but  to  a  certain  pitch  ;  and  this 
has  been  verified  in  me.  The  height  of  glory  to 
which  your  professional  judgment,  united  with  a 
proper  degree  of  bravery,  guarded  by  Providence, 
has  raised  you,  few  sons,  my  dear  child,  attain  to, 
and  fewer  fathers  live  to  see.  Tears  of  joy  have 
involuntarily  trickled  down  my  furrowed  cheek. 
Who  could  stand  the  force  of  such  general  con- 
gratulation ?  The  name  and  services  of  Nelson 
have  sounded  throughout  the  City  of  Bath,  from 
the  common  ballad-singer  to  the  public  theatre. 
Joy  sparkles  in  every  eye,  and  desponding  Britain 
draws  back  her  sable  veil,  and  smiles.  It  gives 
me  inward  satisfaction  to  know  that  the  laurels 
you  have  wreathed  sprang  from  those  principles 
and  religious  truths  which  alone  constitute  the 
Hero." 

Mrs.  Nelson  wrote  to  her  husband,  saying, 
"  Thank  God  you  are  well,  and  Josiah.  My 
anxiety  was  far  beyond  my  powers  of  expression. 
M.  Nelson  and  Captain  Locker  behaved  humanely, 
and  attentive  to  me.  They  wrote  immediately, 
Captain  Locker  assuring  me  you  were  perfectly 
well,  Maurice  begging  me  not  to  believe  idle 
reports,  the  Gazette  saying  you  were  slightly 
wounded.  Altogether,  my  dearest  husband,  my 

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sufferings  were  great."  She  goes  on,  after  a  little 
gossip,  "  I  shall  not  be  myself  till  I  hear  from  you 
again.  What  can  I  attempt  to  say  to  you  about 
Boarding  ?  You  have  been  most  wonderfully 
protected :  you  have  done  desperate  actions  enough. 
Now  may  I — indeed  I  do — beg  that  you  never 
Board  again.  Leave  it  for  Captains "  —Nelson 
had  just  been  made  Rear- Admiral.  She  returns 
to  the  subject  in  a  later  letter  :  'I  sincerely  hope, 
my  dear  husband,  that  all  these  wonderful  and 
desperate  actions — such  as  boarding  ships — you 
will  leave  to  others.  With  the  protection  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  you  have  acquired  a  character, 
or  name,  which  all  hands  agree  cannot  be  greater  : 
therefore,  rest  satisfied." 

Her  fears  were  natural  and  call  for  sympathy, 
but  they  were  unfortunately  expressed.  Such 
letters  would  come  like  a  cup  of  tepid  water  to 
Nelson's  vital  lips,  when  he  wanted  the  wine  of 
praise  poured  out  with  a  generous  hand.  What 
was  the  use  of  telling  his  ardent  spirit  to  "  rest 
satisfied,"  when  nothing  but  death  could  quench 
its  fire  ?  The  woman  is  so  fully  shown  in  her 
statement  at  the  close  of  the  first  letter  she  wrote 
him  after  the  battle,  "  I  can  bear  all  my  extreme 
good  fortune  "  —but  that  was  not  the  assurance 
Nelson  needed,  he  wanted  tears,  tenderness, 
exultation,  glowing  praises  ;  all  the  things  that 
Emma  Hamilton  knew  so  unfortunately  well  how 
to  give  him  in  later  years.  Compare  her  letter 
to  him  after  the  Nile,  when  she  had  only  met  him 

95 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

once — excitable,  ill-balanced,  yet  with  something 
of  the  real  heroic  ring — with  his  wife's  at  all  times 
temperate  epistles.  Frances  Nelson  was  like  a 
muffled  instrument,  incapable  of  any  clear  response 
even  to  the  battles  of  St.  Vincent  or  the  Nile. 

Public  honours,  of  course,  followed  this  most 
picturesque  and  needful  victory.  As  Commander- 
in-Chief  on  that  glorious  occasion,  Jervis  was  made 
Earl  of  St.  Vincent,  the  name  by  which  he  is  most 
familiarly  known.  Nelson  was  made  a  Knight 
of  the  Bath  instead  of  a  baronet,  by  his  own  wishes. 
Colonel  Drinkwater,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of 
the  battle  and  a  friend  of  Nelson's,  wrote  a 
"  Narrative "  which  gives  valuable  information 
on  this  point.  The  morning  after  the  fight  he  had 
a  long  conversation  with  Nelson  as  to  the  details 
of  the  engagement :  "  Towards  the  conclusion  of 
this  interesting  interview,"  wrote  Colonel  Drink- 
water,  "  I  repeated  my  cordial  felicitations  at  his 
personal  safety,  after  such  very  perilous  achieve- 
ments. I  then  adverted  to  the  honours  that  must 
attend  such  distinguished  services.  *  The  Ad- 
miral,' I  observed,  '  will  of  course  be  made  a  Peer, 
and  his  seconds  in  command  noticed  accordingly. 
As  for  you,  Commodore,'  I  continued,  '  they  will 
make  you  a  Baronet.'  The  word  was  scarcely 
uttered,  when  placing  his  hand  on  my  arm,  and, 
looking  me  most  expressively  in  the  face,  he  said, 
1  No,  no  :  if  they  want  to  mark  my  services,  it 
must  not  be  in  that  manner.'  '  Oh  !  '  said  I, 
interrupting  him,  '  you  wish  to  be  made  a  Knight 

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HOME  LETTERS 

of  the  Bath ' ;  for  I  could  not  imagine  that  his 
ambition,  at  that  time,  led  him  to  expect  a  Peerage. 
My  supposition  proved  to  be  correct,  for  he 
instantly  answered  me,  '  Yes,  if  my  services  have 
been  of  any  value,  let  them  be  noticed  in  a  way 
that  the  public  may  know  me,  or  them.'  I  cannot 
distinctly  remember  which  of  these  terms  was 
used,  but,  from  his  manner,  I  could  have  no  doubt 
of  his  meaning,  that  he  wished  to  bear  about  his 
person  some  honorary  distinction,  to  attract  the 
public  eye,  and  mark  his  professional  services." 

It  had  been  the  King's  intention  to  create  Nelson 
a  baronet.  But  when  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  who  took 
a  warm  interest  in  Nelson's  welfare,  called  on 
Colonel  Drinkwater  in  London  and  told  him  this 
news,  the  Colonel  informed  him  how  unwelcome 
it  would  be  to  the  hero  they  intended  to  honour. 
Nelson,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had  other  reasons  than 
those  given  above  for  not  wishing  a  baronetcy — 
he  had  neither  the  heir  nor  the  means  to  support 
it.  On  hearing  this,  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  took  steps 
to  make  Nelson's  wishes  known  in  the  proper 
quarters,  and  on  May  27th  the  Honour  was  notified 
in  the  London  Gazette,  though  Nelson  had  known 
it  earlier.  He  wrote  characteristically  to  his  wife 
on  this  occasion  :  "  Though  we  can  afford  no  more 
than  a  Cottage — yet,  with  a  contented  mind,  my 
dearest  Fanny,  my  Chains,  Medals,  and  Ribbons 
are  all-sufficient.  We  must  be  contented  with  a 
little,  and  the  cottage  near  Norwich,  or  any  other 
place  you  like  better,  will,  I  assure  you,  satisfy 

97  H 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

me.  Do  not  mention  this  mark  of  the  Royal 
Favour  to  any  one  except  my  Father."  He  tells 
his  brother,  "  I  must  be  delighted,  when,  from  the 
King  to  the  Peasant,  all  are  willing  to  do  me 
honour." 

Nelson  was  never  personally  installed  as  a 
Knight  of  the  Bath,  for  Captain  Sir  William  Bolton, 
who  married  Nelson's  niece,  Catherine  Bolton,  was 
his  proxy  at  that  stately  ceremony. 

Other  honours  were  showered  upon  him ;  many 
cities  proffered  him  their  Freedoms,  including 
London,  Bath,  Bristol,  Norwich,  and  several 
more.  To  Norwich,  with  that  Norfolk  patriotism 
which  was  always  so  strong  in  his  breast,  Nelson 
had  presented  the  sword  of  the  Spanish  Admiral, 
for,  as  he  said  in  the  letter  which  accompanied 
the  gift,  being  born  in  the  County  of  Norfolk  he 
would  like  it  to  be  "  preserved  as  a  Memento  of 
the  Event,  and  of  my  Affection  for  my  Native 
County." 

Rear- Admiral  Sir  Horatio  Nelson  did  not  at  once 
return  to  England  to  enjoy  his  honours  and  the 
congratulations  of  his  family.  Instead,  as  he 
wrote  to  his  wife — after  assuring  her  of  his  love, 
affection,  and  esteem  for  her  person  and  character, 
which  the  more  he  saw  of  the  world  the  more  he 
must  admire — "  The  imperious  call  of  honour  to 
serve  my  Country,  is  the  only  thing  which  keeps 
me  a  moment  from  you,  and  a  hope,  that  by  stay- 
ing a  little  longer,  it  may  enable  you  to  enjoy  those 
little  luxuries  which  you  so  highly  merit.  I  pray 

98 


KEAR-ADMIRAL    SIR    HORATIO    NELSON,   K.B. 

From  an  Engraving  by  W.   Evans  after  the  Drawing 
by  H.   Kdriilt/e. 


HOME  LETTERS 

God  it  may  soon  be  peace,  and  that  we  may  get 
into  the  cottage." 

He  goes  on  to  tell  his  wife  of  his  crest  and  arms 
and  motto — "  Faith  and  Works  "  —and  hopes  she 
will  like  them.  Then  without  a  break  he  jumps 
from  the  "  British  Lion  tearing  the  Spanish  flag  " 
to  blankets :  "I  intend  my  next  winter's  gift  at 
Burnham  should  be  fifty  good  large  blankets  of 
the  very  best  quality,  and  they  will  last  for  seven 
years  at  least.  This  will  not  take  from  anything 
the  Parish  might  give.  I  wish  inquiry  to  be  made, 
and  the  blankets  ordered  of  some  worthy  man ; 
they  are  to  be  at  my  father's  disposal  in  November.' 

His  thoughts  turn  Norfolk-wards  in  a  later 
letter  to  his  wife,  where  he  says,  "  I  should  be  glad 
if  the  house  were  bought :  and  if  you  do  not  object, 
I  should  like  Norfolk  in  preference  to  any  other 
part  of  the  Kingdom." 

In  the  same  letter  he  says,  "  I  have  had  flattery 
enough  to  make  me  vain,  and  success  enough  to 
make  me  confident"  ;  and  the  statement  is  some- 
what ominous,  coming  so  close  as  it  does  to  the 
looming  disaster  of  Teneriffe,  where  he  lost  his 
right  arm  and  nearly  his  life,  which  was  only  saved 
by  the  exertions  of  his  stepson  Josiah  Nisbet. 
Thirteen  days  after  that  happy  statement  to  his 
wife,  Nelson,  stricken  and  heart-broken,  was 
writing  with  his  left  hand  the  pathetic  letter  to 
his  Commander-in-Chief,  which  begins,  "  I  am 
become  a  burthen  to  my  friends,  and  useless  to 
my  Country.  .  .  .  When  I  leave  your  command, 

99 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

I  become  dead  to  the  world ;  I  go  hence,  and  am 
no  more  seen."  He  declares  a  few  days  later 
that  a  "  left-handed  Admiral  will  never  again  be 
considered  as  useful,  therefore  the  sooner  I  get 
to  a  very  humble  cottage  the  better,  and  make 
room  for  a  better  man  to  serve  the  State." 

It  seemed  as  if  hi  the  very  expansion  of  his 
powers  he  was  smitten  down,  and  his  day  ended 
before  it  was  half  begun.  It  would  have  taken 
a  very  hopeful  heart  to  believe  that  his  three 
greatest  battle-triumphs  were  yet  to  come. 


100 


CHAPTER  VI :    THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

I  SHALL  come  one  day  or  other  laughing 
back,  when  we  will  retire  from  the  busy 
scenes  of  life  "  —so  Nelson  had  written  to 
his  wife  a  few  months  before  he  actually  did  come 
back,  not  laughing.  He  returned  suffering  sadly 
in  mind  and  body,  from  shattered  hopes  and  from 
a  badly  amputated  arm.  Part  of  the  nerve  had 
been  tied  in  with  the  ligature  and  for  months  he 
endured  great  agony,  which  had  its  lasting  results, 
for  even  when  the  pain  had  passed  it  left  a  neu- 
ralgic tendency  and  irritability  which  remained 
with  him  the  rest  of  his  life. 

So  soon  as  he  reached  England,  after  obtaining 
leave  to  strike  his  flag,  he  took  what  he  bitterly 
described  as  his  "  mutilated  carcase "  to  Bath, 
where  he  joined  his  wife  and  father,  who,  it  will 
be  remembered,  had  taken  a  furnished  house 
there  for  three  years.  While  at  sea  on  his  way 
home,  Nelson  had  written  to  his  wife  to  tell  her 
of  his  lost  arm,  saying,  in  the  somewhat  odd  way 
common  to  him  at  times,  "  I  am  so  confident  of 
your  affection,  that  I  feel  the  pleasure  you  will 
receive  will  be  equal,  whether  my  letter  is  wrote 
by  my  right  hand  or  left."  This  letter  had  not 
long  preceded  his  own  arrival  at .  Bath.  The 

101 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

difference  of  the  hand-writing,  we  are  told,  at  first 
perplexed  his  wife  and  father :  "  The  dreadful 
change  in  the  well-known  hand-writing  created  an 
uncertainty,  which  magnified  all  that  could  have 
happened.  At  last,  Mrs.  Bolton,  who  was  on  a 
visit  to  her  father,  at  his  request,  disclosed  the 
contents ;  she  was  sincerely  attached  to  her 
brother,  and  for  some  minutes  their  affectionate 
sympathy  rendered  them  insensible  to  the  joy  of 
his  return.  Whilst  they  were  alternately  expecting 
and  despairing  of  his  arrival,  Lady  Nelson  one 
evening  suddenly  distinguished  the  sound  of  her 
husband's  voice  directing  his  carriage  where  to 
stop.  The  affectionate  mind  and  filial  regard  of 
a  son  so  long  absent  were  rewarded  by  the 
blessings  of  an  aged  father  and  by  the  tenderness 
of  the  faithful  partner  of  his  early  and  more 
humble  fortunes."  * 

That  is  a  little  home-scene  which  stands  out 
from  the  darkness  of  a  long-past  September  evening 
— the  sudden  voice  from  outside  breaking  on  that 
waiting  room  where  the  father  and  wife  and  sister 
were  gathered,  the  checking  of  the  horses,  the 
sudden  cry  and  broken  exclamations  as  his  wife 
fled  to  him  ;  and  then  the  entry  of  Nelson  from 
the  wars  into  that  sheltered  room — pale  from  his 
journey  and  his  sufferings,  blinking  a  little  at  the 
candlelight  after  the  night  air,  and  with  his 
empty  coat  sleeve  pinned  upon  his  breast.  We 

*  Clarke  and  M'Arthur. 

102 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

can  imagine  the  tears  and  consolations,  his  father's 
tremulous  praises  and  gratitude  to  God.  We  dwell 
in  imagination  on  this  return  of  Nelson  after  the 
years  at  sea,  for  it  was  the  last  time  he  came  back 
untroubled  to  the  bosom  of  his  family,  the  last 
time  his  wife's  caresses  were  sweet  to  him.  No 
shadow  of  another  woman  had  then  darkened  his 
peace.  The  only  bitterness  of  that  return  was  his 
lost  arm  and,  as  he  believed,  his  lost  prospects. 
At  first  his  wound  promised  to  heal  well,  and, 
soothed  by  the  attentions  of  the  wife  from  whom 
he  had  been  so  long  parted  and  by  the  placid 
society  of  his  father,  he  seems  to  have  recovered 
his  equanimity  and  cheerfulness.  On  September 
6th  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  "  My  arm  is  in  the 
fairest  way  of  soon  healing.  Next  week,  I  intend 
to  be  in  town,  and  it  is  not  impossible  but  I  may 
visit  Norfolk  for  a  few  days,  especially  if  a  decent 
house  is  likely  to  be  met  with  near  Norwich  ;  but 
Wroxham  very  far  indeed  exceeds  my  purse. 
Bath  will  be  my  home  till  next  spring." 

We  get  another  glimpse  of  him  from  a  letter 
his  wife  wrote  to  his  uncle  on  the  same  day : 
"  I  beg  you  will  accept  the  united  thanks  of  my 
dear  husband  and  myself  for  your  kind  inquiries 
and  truly  friendly  invitation  to  your  house,  which 
we  would  have  accepted  had  it  not  been  for  the 
necessity  of  my  husband's  arm  being  dressed  every 
day  by  a  surgeon.  We  purpose  being  in  London 
the  middle  of  next  week.  I  have  written  to 
Mr.  M.  Nelson  to  take  us  a  lodging,  and  as  soon 

103 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

as  my  husband  can  do  without  a  surgeon,  we  shall 
spend  some  time  with  you.  Earl  Spencer  has 
written  a  handsome  letter,  and  is  to  be  in  town 
next  week.  My  husband's  spirits  are  very  good, 
although  he  suffers  a  good  deal  of  pain — the  arm 
is  taken  off  very  high,  near  the  shoulder.  Opium 
procures  him  rest,  and  last  night  he  was  pretty 
quiet.  The  Corporation  have  handsomely  con- 
gratulated him  on  his  safe  arrival.  Such  a  letter 
from  Lord  Hood  ! — it  does  him  honour,  and  I  have 
forgot  the  ill  treatment  of  former  years  which  my 
good  man  received  from  him.  Everything  which 
concerns  my  husband  I  know  you  feel  interested 
in,  therefore  shall  not  make  any  excuses  for  what 
I  have  told  you." 

The  Duke  of  Clarence  wrote  to  Bath  to  condole 
with  the  hero  on  his  loss,  and  like  a  flash  from  the 
midst  of  pain  and  sufferings,  dulled  with  opium, 
we  have  Nelson's  answer:  "Not  a  scrap  of  that 
ardour  with  which  I  have  hitherto  served  our  King 
has  been  shot  away."  It  is  equally  characteristic 
that  he  early  found  time  to  write  to  the  father  of 
his  beloved  little  Hoste,  saying  that  his  "  dear 
good  son  "  was  as  gallant  as  a  less  fortunate  young 
officer  who  was  killed  at  Teneriffe,  "  and  I  hope 
he  will  long  live  to  honour  Norfolk  and  England. 
.  .  .  His  worth  both  as  a  man,  and  as  an  Officer, 
exceeds  all  which  the  most  sincere  friend  can  say 
of  him.  I  pray  God  to  bless  my  dear  William." 
As  to  himself,  Nelson  supposes  he  was  getting  well 
too  fast,  for  he  is  "  beset  with  a  Physician,  Surgeon, 

104 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

and  Apothecary,  and,  to  say  the  truth,  am  suffering 
much  pain  with  some  fever." 

In  spite  of  his  cure  being  so  far  from  accomplished, 
Nelson  and  his  wife  left  Bath  about  the  middle  of 
September  and  went  to  London,  where  they  stayed 
"  at  the  lodgings  of  Mr.  Jones,"  141,  Bond  Street. 
Before  leaving  Bath,  Nelson  had  requested  his  wife 
to  attend  the  dressing  of  his  arm  "  until  she  had 
acquired  sufficient  skill  and  resolution  to  perform 
it  herself,  which  she  afterwards  did  continually." 
When  he  arrived  in  London  he  tried  one  surgeon 
after  another,  and  none  apparently  could  give  him 
much  relief  save  "  recommending  that  the  cure 
should  be  left  to  time  and  nature."  His  only 
consolation  was,  as  he  wrote  to  Lord  St.  Vincent, 
"  I  found  my  domestic  happiness  perfect,  and  I 
hope  time  will  bring  me  about  again  ;  but  I  have 
suffered  great  misery." 

While  he  was  still  in  this  unhappy  state  he  was 
invested  with  the  Ensigns  of  the  Order  of  the  Bath, 
by  King  George  III.,  on  September  27th.  His 
loyal  heart  would  be  cheered  by  the  marked 
graciousness  of  his  sovereign  on  this  occasion. 
'  You  have  lost  your  right  arm,"  observed  the 
King,  compassionately.  "  But  not  my  right  hand," 
Nelson  quickly  exclaimed,  "  as  I  have  the  honour 
of  presenting  Captain  Berry  to  you.  And,  besides, 
may  it  please  your  Majesty,  I  can  never  think 
that  a  loss  which  the  performance  of  my  duty 
has  occasioned  ;  and,  so  long  as  I  have  a  foot  to 
stand  on,  I  will  combat  for  my  country  and  King." 

105 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

This  bit  of  apparent  bombast  was  quite  character- 
istic and  natural  in  Nelson — he  was  never  afraid 
of  words  like  "  Country "  and  "  Duty,"  words 
too  big  for  other  men,  but  twin  brothers  of  his 
soul.  The  King  is  recorded  to  have  said,  after 
acknowledging  all  he  had  done  and  suffered,  "  But 
your  Country  has  a  claim  for  a  bit  more  of  you." 

As  it  was  intended  to  grant  him  a  pension  of 
£1,000  a  year,  he  had  to  state  his  services  in  a 
memorial  to  the  King,  which  he  did,  saying, 
"  Your  Memorialist  has  actually  been  engaged 
against  the  Enemy  upwards  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  times.  In  which  service  your  Memorialist 
has  lost  his  right  eye  and  arm,  and  been  severely 
wounded  and  bruised  in  his  body.  All  of  which 
services  and  wounds  your  Memorialist  most  humbly 
submits  to  your  Majesty's  most  gracious  con- 
sideration." 

Even  with  such  undoubted  wounds  as  his,  Nelson 
had  to  go  through  all  the  necessary  formalities. 
Of  these  formalities  Southey  tells  a  little  tale  : 
"  Not  having  been  in  England  till  now  since  he 
lost  his  eye,  he  went  to  receive  a  year's  pay  as 
smart  money,  but  could  not  obtain  payment 
because  he  had  neglected  to  bring  a  certificate  from 
a  surgeon  that  the  sight  was  actually  destroyed. 
A  little  irritated  that  this  form  should  be  insisted 
on,  because,  though  the  fact  was  not  apparent, 
he  thought  it  was  sufficiently  notorious,  he  pro- 
cured a  certificate  at  the  same  time  for  the  loss  of 
his  arm,  saying  they  might  as  well  doubt  one  as 

106 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

the  other.  This  put  him  in  good  humour  with 
himself,  and  with  the  clerk  who  had  offended  him. 
On  his  return  to  the  office,  the  clerk,  finding  it  was 
only  the  annual  pay  of  a  captain,  observed  he 
thought  it  had  been  more.  *  Oh,'  replied  Nelson, 
*  this  is  only  for  an  eye.  In  a  few  days  I  shall 
come  for  an  arm,  and  in  a  little  longer,  God  knows, 
most  probably  for  a  leg.'  Accordingly,  he  soon 
afterwards  went,  and  with  perfect  good  humour 
exhibited  the  certificate  for  the  loss  of  his  arm." 

In  spite  of  wounds  and  suffering  Nelson's 
ardour  for  his  country  was  unquenchable.  One 
day  in  October,  when  talking  with  Colonel  Drink- 
water,  who  had  been  with  him  at  the  battle  of 
St.  Vincent,  and  hearing  that  an  engagement  was 
hourly  expected  between  Admiral  Duncan  and  the 
Dutch,  "  he  started  up  in  his  peculiar,  energetic 
manner,  notwithstanding  Lady  Nelson's  attempt 
to  quiet  him,  and  stretching  out  his  unwounded 
arm,  '  Drinkwater,'  said  he,  '  I  would  give  this 
other  arm  to  be  with  Duncan  at  this  moment.'  : 

When  the  news  of  the  victory  of  Camperdown 
reached  London,  Nelson  had  gone  to  bed,  after 
a  day  of  pain,  hoping  to  win  a  little  sleep  with  the 
help  of  laudanum.  The  mob,  celebrating  the 
victory,  which  was  unknown  to  the  Nelsons,  passed 
down  Bond  Street,  and  finding  their  windows 
unilluminated,  banged  upon  the  door  :  "It  was 
at  length  opened  by  a  servant,  who  informed  them 
that  Sir  Horatio  Nelson,  who  had  been  so  badly 
wounded,  lodged  there,  and  could  not  be  disturbed. 

107 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

A  general  interest  for  the  valuable  life  of  their 
honoured  admiral  for  an  instant  repressed  the 
joy  which  Duncan's  victory  had  occasioned. 
'  You  will  hear  no  more  from  us  to-night,5  exclaimed 
the  foremost  of  the  party  ;  and  that  universal 
sympathy  for  the  health  of  Nelson  which  pervaded 
even  the  minds  of  the  lowest  of  his  countrymen  was 
clearly  shown,  no  subsequent  visit  being  paid  by  the 
mob,  notwithstanding  the  tumult  that  prevailed." 

It  was  not  till  December  that  Nelson's  sufferings 
came  to  a  close  from  the  wound  he  had  received 
nearly  six  months  earlier.  Christian  gratitude 
was  as  marked  in  him  as  in  his  father,  and  when 
he  was  sufficiently  well  he  went  to  the  clerk  of 
St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  and  left  with  him 
a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  he  had  written,  "  An 
Officer  desires  to  return  thanks  to  Almighty  God 
for  his  perfect  recovery  from  a  severe  wound, 
and  also  for  many  mercies  bestowed  upon  him. 
December  8th,  1797  (for  next  Sunday)." 

In  the  same  spirit  his  good  father  wrote  to  him 
from  Bath,  where  he  had  remained :  '  Your 
peculiar  preservation  Providence  has  ordained 
for  great  and  wise  purposes  :  He  evidently  gives 
His  angels  charge  concerning  thee." 

An  odd  little  glimpse  of  Nelson  at  this  time  is 
given  in  the  words  of  Countess  Spencer,  wife  of 
the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  as  written  down 
by  Frances  Lady  Shelley.*  "  The  first  time  I 

*  The  Diary  of  Frances  Lady  Shelley.  Edited  by  Richard  Edgcumbe 
(John  Murray,  1912.) 

108 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

ever  saw  Nelson,"  said  Lady  Spencer,  "  was  in 
the  drawing-room  at  the  Admiralty ;  and  a  most 
uncouth  creature  I  thought  him.  He  was  just 
returned  from  Teneriffe,  after  having  lost  his  arm. 
He  looked  so  sickly  it  was  painful  to  see  him  ; 
and  his  general  appearance  was  that  of  an  idiot ; 
so  much  so,  that  when  he  spoke,  and  his  wonderful 
mind  broke  forth,  it  was  a  sort  of  surprise  that 
rivetted  my  whole  attention.  I  desired  him  to  call 
next  day,  and  he  continued  to  visit  me  daily, 
during  his  stay  in  England." 

It  was  Lady  Spencer  who  wrote  Nelson  that 
glowing  letter  after  the  Nile  which  almost  excelled 
in  ardour  Lady  Hamilton's  famous  epistle.  She 
was  a  woman  of  great  brilliance  and  beauty,  and 
her  social  graces  added  much  to  her  husband's 
administration.  Nelson  called  her  "  the  Lady  of 
the  Admiralty." 

On  December  19th  the  King  attended  a  public 
thanksgiving  at  St.  Paul's  for  the  naval  victories, 
and  Nelson  was  present  in  the  procession — little 
thinking  how  closely  St.  Paul's  was  to  be  associated 
with  his  own  glories  and  his  own  death.  Another 
link  was  to  weld  him  to  the  City  of  London,  for 
on  the  28th  of  the  same  month  he  received  the 
Freedom  of  the  City,  presented  in  a  gold  box, 
valued  at  a  hundred  guineas.  In  the  speech  he 
made  on  this  occasion  the  Chamberlain,  John  Wilks, 
congratulated  Nelson  on  his  "  distinguished  valour 
and  conduct  in  the  favourite  service  of  the  Navy." 
"  Many  of  our  Naval  Commanders  have  merited 

109 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

highly  of  their  country  by  their  exertions,  but  in 
your  case  there  is  a  rare  heroic  modesty,  which 
cannot  be  sufficiently  admired.  You  have  given 
the  warmest  applause  to  your  Brother-Officers 
and  the  Seamen  under  your  command  ;  but  your 
own  merit  you  have  not  mentioned,  even  in  the 
slightest  manner." 

To  this  speech  Nelson  replied  characteristically 
and  shortly  :  "  Sir,  nothing  could  be  more  gratify- 
ing to  me  (as  it  must  be  to  every  Sea  Officer)  than 
receiving  the  high  honour  this  day  conferred  upon 
me,  in  becoming  a  Freeman  of  the  great  City  of 
London ;  and  I  beg  you  to  believe,  and  to  assure 
my  Fellow-Citizens,  that  my  hand  and  head  shall 
ever  be  exerted,  with  all  my  heart,  hi  defence  of 
my  King,  the  Laws,  and  the  just  liberties  of  my 
Country,  in  which  are  included  everything  which 
can  be  beneficial  to  the  Capital  of  the  Empire. 
I  beg  leave,  Sir,  to  return  you  my  sincere  thanks 
for  the  very  flattering  expressions  you  have 
honoured  me  with  on  this  occasion." 

With  all  these  honours  about  him,  and  with  a 
pension  as  some  compensation  for  his  wounds  and 
dangers,  Nelson  was  at  last  able  to  realise  one  of 
his  dreams — that  "  neat  cottage  "  of  which  he  had 
so  often  thought  and  talked.  In  the  course  of  his 
autumn  correspondence  with  Catherine  Matcham 
her  father  says,  "  By  a  Letter  yesterday  from 
Lady  N.  I  learn  they  are  gone  to  Look  at  a  House 
very  near  Ipswich,  which  they  mean  to  purchase 
if  no  Great  obstacle  prevents."  This  house,  which 

110 


•'THK    BOUXDWOOD,"    IPSWICH. 

(Frunl  ((ml  side  views.) 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

they  did  purchase,  is  The  Roundwood — so  called 
from  the  wood  of  the  estate  which  formed  nearly 
a  circle — near  Ipswich,  still  standing,  and  so  far 
as  can  be  judged,  much  as  they  must  have  known 
it.  Of  a  fair  size,  it  is  hardly  the  "  neat  cottage," 
which,  by  the  time  he  was  able  to  buy  a  home,  would 
not  quite  have  fitted  the  needs  of  Rear-Admiral 
Sir  Horatio  Nelson  and  the  natural  social  ambitions 
of  his  wife.  It  is  a  plain  and  pleasant  house  with 
white  stucco  walls  and  grey  slate  roof.  There  are 
several  long  windows  opening  to  the  lawn,  two  of 
them  having  curious  round  fan-lights  heading 
them.  The  gardens  are  large,  even  now  being 
nine  and  a  half  acres  in  extent,  while  when  Nelson 
bought  it  there  was  more  land  attached.  Fine 
old  trees  of  elm  and  sweet  chestnut  stand  round 
the  house,  and  there  is  a  yew  hedge  which  Nelson 
must  have  known.  The  Roundwood  is  of  a 
particular  interest ;  it  is  the  first  home  he  had  in 
England  that  was  actually  his  own.  Up  to  the  time 
of  this  purchase  he  had  lived,  when  ashore,  at  his 
father's  Parsonage  or  in  lodgings  in  London  and 
Bath.  It  has  also  another  interest  as  being  the 
only  one  of  Nelson's  homes  still  standing — the 
Parsonage  House  at  Burnham  Thorpe  is  gone, 
so  is  that  beloved  Merton  in  Surrey  which  he 
bought  in  his  last  years.  Peaceful,  pleasant, 
spacious  is  The  Roundwood,  and  as  such  Nelson 
chose  and  liked  it,  though,  as  circumstances  turned 
out,  he  spent  little  time  under  its  roof. 

When  Nelson  sailed  in  the  Vanguard  on  the  1st 

111 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

of  April,  1798,  to  join  St.  Vincent  off  Cadiz,  the 
purchase  was  completed  and  the  house  his.  In 
May  his  wife  wrote  to  him  :  "  On  Sunday,  the 
20th  of  May,  we  arrived  at  Round- Wood.  The 
satisfaction  I  felt  was  very  great  on  being  under 
your  own  roof.  No  thanks  to  any  earthly  being. 
Our  Father  was  for  staying,  although  the  house 
had  little  or  no  accommodation.  He  viewed 
everything  attentively,  and  I  never  saw  him  so 
thoroughly  satisfied  as  he  was,  and  says  the  more 
he  examines  everything  the  better  he  is  pleased." 
A  little  later,  when  the  house  had  been  made 
comfortable,  Nelson's  father  gave  a  more  detailed 
description  in  a  letter  to  Catherine  :  "  On  Sunday 
Lady  N.  my  Self,  Kitty  Bolton  and  the  two 
servants  came  to  Roundwood  and  took  possession 
of  a  Neat,  strong,  wellbuilt  and  convenient  House, 
consisting  of  2  parlors,  a  small  hansome  vestibule 
and  staircase,  6  bedrooms  and  2  dressingrooms, 
with  offices  of  every  denomination  and  good  cellars. 
The  little  pleasure  ground  and  small  garden  are 
laid  out  in  good  taste  and  All  looks  like  a  Gentle- 
man's House.  Seems  to  answer  every  wish  of  yr 
Bro  :  and  His  wife.  The  Farm  is  50  acres  of  Good 
Land  adjoining,  divided  into  severall  small  en- 
closures and  lett  to  a  very  substantiall  civil 
Tenant."  * 

But  before  the  Admiral  left  England,  after 
settling  his  wife  at  Ipswich,  they  had  both  spent 
some  time  at  Bath.  In  January,  1798,  there  was 

*  Thf,  Nelxont  of  Burnham   Thorpe. 

112 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

a  family  gathering  in  the  sheltered  Somerset  city, 
Nelson  in  great  spirits  at  the  recovery  from  pain 
and  his  appointment  to  the  Vanguard.  He  had 
been  down  to  Chatham  on  naval  business,  and 
wrote  that  "  Sheerness  is  a  miserable  place." 
But  Bath  he  evidently  did  not  find  so,  as  witness 
this  letter  of  January  29th,  which  contains  several 
characteristic  Nelsonian  sentiments  :  "I  was  much 
flattered  by  the  Marquis's  [of  Lansdowne]  kind 
notice  of  me,  and  I  beg  you  will  make  my  respects 
acceptable  to  him.  Tell  him  that  I  possess  his 
place  in  Mr.  Palmer's  box  ;  but  his  Lordship  did 
not  tell  me  all  its  charms,  that  generally  some  of 
the  handsomest  ladies  in  Bath  are  partakers  in 
the  box,  and  was  I  a  bachelor  I  would  not  answer 
for  being  tempted ;  but  as  I  am  possessed  of 
everything  which  is  valuable  in  a  wife,  I  have  no 
occasion  to  think  beyond  a  pretty  face.  I  am 
sorry  the  King  is  so  poor.  Had  he  been  worth 
what  those  vile  dogs  of  Opposition  think,  what  a 
vast  sum  would  have  been  given  to  the  Nation  ; 
but  I  now  hope  all  the  Nation  will  subscribe  liber- 
ally. [To  the  voluntary  subscription  for  the 
support  of  the  war.]  You  will  believe  that  I  do 
not  urge  others  to  give,  and  withhold  myself ; 
but  my  mode  of  subscribing  will  be  novel  in  its 
manner,  and  by  doing  it,  I  mean  to  debar  myself 
of  many  comforts  to  serve  my  Country,  and  I 
expect  great  consolation  every  time  I  cut  a  slice 
of  salt  beef  instead  of  mutton." 

In  March  Nelson  was  back  in  Bond  Street — at 

113  i 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

No.  96  this  time — and  writing  to  Lady  Collier, 
widow  of  Vice- Admiral  Sir  George  Collier,  a  note 
which  is  amusing  from  its  mixture  of  the  first  and 
third  persons  :  "  From  twelve  till  one  this  day  I 
shall  be  at  home,  and  if  Lady  Collier  does  not  find 
it  convenient  to  come  to  Bond  Street  at  that  time, 
Sir  H.  will  call  on  Lady  Collier  after  he  comes  from 
the  Levee  about  ^  past  two." 

On  March  14th  he  wrote  to  his  father  at  Bath : 
"  I  have  this  day  taken  leave  of  the  King ;  and 
on  Saturday  I  expect  to  be  ordered  to  leave  town 
for  Portsmouth." 

In  the  Diary  of  Frances  Lady  Shelley  there  is 
this  further  very  interesting  reminiscence  of  Nelson 
by  the  Countess  Spencer :  "  The  day  before  he 
was  to  sail  he  called  upon  me  as  usual,  but,  on 
leaving,  he  took  a  most  solemn  farewell,  saying 
that  if  he  fell,  he  depended  upon  my  kindness  to 
his  wife — an  angel,  whose  care  had  saved  his  life  ! 
I  should  explain  that,  although  during  Lord  Spen- 
cer's administration  no  sea  captain  ever  returned 
without  being  asked  to  dinner  by  us,  I  made  it  a 
rule  not  to  receive  their  wives.  Nelson  said,  that 
out  of  deference  to  my  known  determination,  he 
had  not  begged  to  introduce  Lady  Nelson  to  me ; 
yet,  if  I  would  take  notice  of  her,  it  would  make 
him  the  happiest  man  alive.  He  said  he  felt 
convinced  I  must  like  her.  That  she  was  beautiful, 
accomplished ;  but,  above  all,  that  her  angelic 
tenderness  to  him  was  beyond  imagination.  He 
told  me  that  his  wife  had  dressed  his  wounds,  and 

114 


THE  WOUNDED  HERO 

that  her  care  alone  had  saved  his  life.  In  short, 
he  pressed  me  to  see  her,  with  an  earnestness  of 
which  Nelson  alone  was  capable. 

"  In  these  circumstances,  I  begged  that  he 
would  bring  her  with  him  that  day  to  dinner.  He 
did  so,  and  his  attentions  to  her  were  those  of  a 
lover.  He  handed  her  to  dinner,  and  sat  by  her  ; 
apologising  to  me,  by  saying  that  he  was  so  little 
with  her,  that  he  would  not,  voluntarily,  lose  an 
instant  of  her  society." 

How  differently  Nelson  treated  his  wife  the  next 
time  he  and  she  dined  at  the  Admiralty  will  be 
shown  in  due  course ;  the  pity  of  it  is  emphasised 
by  this  outburst  of  unusual  tenderness  on  the  eve 
of  a  parting  which,  in  essentials,  was  final. 

It  was  probably  at  this  time  of  her  first  inter- 
course with  Nelson,  when  he  had  just  lost  his  arm, 
that  the  enthusiastic  Lady  Spencer  presented  the 
Admiral  with  the  combined  gold  knife  and  fork, 
manageable  with  one  hand,  which  still  exists. 

The  day  after  this  dinner  Nelson  left  for  Ports- 
mouth and  from  there  sailed  from  England  in 
the  Vanguard,  which  was  to  be  his  flagship  at  the 
Nile.  When  once  more  he  beheld  his  native  shores 
he  was  the  most  honoured  and  belauded  Sea 
Officer  of  his  time,  the  halo  of  an  unparalleled 
victory  surrounding  him.  But  his  heart  was 
changed,  his  peace  was  gone  ;  he  was  not  the  same 
man  to  whom  his  wife  and  father  had  said  good-bye. 
Their  farewells,  in  the  light  of  later  events,  seem 
touched  with  forebodings.  His  wife  was  exception- 

115 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

ally  depressed  at  this  parting,  and  Nelson  strove 
to  cheer  her.  "  My  ambition,"  he  told  her,  "  is 
satisfied.  I  now  go  to  raise  you  to  that  rank  in 
which  I  have  long  wished  to  see  you." 

In  his  father's  farewell  letter  there  is  a  pro- 
phetic note  :  "  Who  can  see  without  anxiety  that 
your  duty  long  has,  and  will  still  lead  you  into 
paths  where  perhaps  roses  grow,  but  intermixed 
with  many  a  thorn  ?  " 

"  My  character  and  good  name  are  in  my  own 
keeping,"  Nelson  had  too-confidently  stated  a 
few  years  earlier,  little  guessing  the  time  would 
come  when  they  would  be  in  a  woman's  keeping — 
a  woman  who  by  force  of  circumstance  and  tem- 
perament had  never  heard  the  grave  and  warning 
voice  that  cries,  with  a  wisdom  ages  old,  "  Have 
regard  to  thy  name ;  for  that  shall  continue  with 
thee  above  a  thousand  great  treasures  of  gold." 


116 


CHAPTER  VII :    THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

NOT  to  follow  Nelson  to  the  Nile  !— it  is 
difficult  to  stay  at  home  and  look  on,  but 
we  must  do  as  his  father  and  his  wife  did, 
and  behold  it  all  through  letters,  catch  the  back- 
ward glances  our  Admiral  throws  us  even  amid 
the  battle-smoke ;   begin  to  wonder  and  to  fear, 
even  as  they  did,  whether  the  sunshine  of  Naples 
and  the  smiles  of  the  "  divine  Emma  "  may  not 
prove  too  intoxicating  to  one  who  was  at  heart 
so  passionate  and  impetuous,  though  his  home-life 
and  surroundings  had  been  so  normal  and  placid 
hitherto.     Nelson's  love  of  England  was  continu- 
ous and  unchanging ;  it  was  always  his  desire  and 
thought  in  absence,   a  home  there  his  constant 
dream — though  the  nature  of  the  home  and  the 
woman  who  was  to  rule  it  altered  in  later  years* 
But  there  is  no  doubt  that  Italian  sun,  and  battle 
and  love,  and  all  the  complicated  events  between 
1798  and  1800  ripened  him  to  the  Nelson  we  know 
best.     Those   years   brought   him   glory   such   as 
had  not  been  won  at  sea  in  the  memory  of  man ; 
they    also    brought    wrong-doing    and    domestic 
disaster,  and  the  inevitable  consequence  of  stress 
of  mind  to  a  nature  like  his,  misery  and  rebellion 
—with  that  broadening  of  soul  which  follows  suffer- 

117 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

ing.  All  the  poignancy  of  Nelson,  which  makes 
him  so  different  from  other  men,  only  appears 
after  he  had  tangled  his  heart  in  an  unlawful 
passion  and  suffered  for  it — even  while  he  persisted 
in  it — as  his  father's  son  would  suffer. 

But  all  this  was  before  him  and  unguessed  when 
he  sailed  from  England,  and  his  early  letters  to 
his  "  dearest  Fanny  "  are  mildly  concerned  about 
the  deficiencies  of  his  wardrobe.  "  My  black 
stock  and  buckle  has  not  yet  appeared,"  he  wrote 
from  St.  Helens,  "  nor  are  the  keys  of  my  dressing- 
stand  sent."  Two  days  later  he  is  still  more 
troubled  :  "I  have  looked  over  my  linen,  and  find 
it  very  different  to  your  list  in  the  articles  as 
follows  : — thirteen  silk  pocket  handkerchiefs  :  only 
six  new,  five  old.  Thirteen  cambric  ditto  :  I  have 
sixteen.  Twelve  cravats :  I  have  only  eleven. 
Six  Genoa  velvet  stocks :  I  have  only  three. 
You  have  put  down  thirty  huckaback  towels  :  I 
have  from  1  to  10."  A  curious  little  human  detail 
to  survive,  that  Nelson  should  be  bothered  about 
his  washing  !  From  Lisbon  he  wrote  to  his  wife, 
"  I  can  hardly  describe  to  you  the  miserable 
appearance  of  this  place  after  seeing  England." 
In  another  letter  he  says,  "  I  direct  this  to  our 
Cottage,  where  I  hope  you  will  fix  yourself  in 
comfort." 

Lady  Nelson  was  settled  at  Roundwood  in  June, 
and  from  there  the  Reverend  Edmund  Nelson 
wrote  to  Catherine  that  Mrs.  Bolton  and  her 
daughters  had  been  paying  them  a  week's  visit, 

118 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

and  adds :  "  Lady  N.  is  well  pleased  with  every- 
thing at  Ipswich,  has  been  at  two  Balls,  and  I  hope 
the  situation  will  be  very  comfortable."  From 
Roundwood,  in  the  following  month,  Lady  Nelson 
wrote  to  her  "  dearest  Husband "  :  "I  am  now 
writing  opposite  to  your  portrait.  The  likeness 
is  great :  I  am  well  satisfied  with  Abbot.  I  really 
began  to  think  he  had  no  intention  of  letting  me 
have  my  own  property,  which  I  am  not  a  little 
attached  to.  Indeed,  it  is  more  than  attachment — 
it  is  real  affection.  It  is  my  company — my  sincere 
friend,  in  your  absence.  Our  good  father  was 
delighted  with  the  likeness.  The  room  is  very 
near  eleven  feet,  therefore,  it  stands  very  well, 
opposite  the  East  window." 

This  was  the  familiar  portrait  painted  by 
Lemuel  Abbott  in  1797,  which  shows  Nelson  with 
his  hair  worn  tossed  back  from  the  forehead  in  his 
early  manner — it  was  not  till  after  the  Nile  that 
he  brought  it  down  to  hide  the  scar  he  got  then — 
and  adorned  only  by  the  star  of  the  Order  of  the 
Bath  on  his  breast,  instead  of  the  galaxy  of  later 
years.  The  portrait  is  good,  but  it  does  not  go 
deep,  and  though  Lady  Nelson  declared  she  was 
"  well  satisfied,"  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  believe 
that  she  was  a  very  penetrating  judge.  Abbott 
painted  Nelson  on  several  occasions,  and  his  ten- 
dency was  to  smooth  out,  instead  of  emphasising 
character.  He  painted  the  Admiral  again  on  his 
return  to  England  in  1800,  wearing  his  cocked  hat 
and  the  diamond  chelenk,  or  plume  of  triumph, 

119 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

given  him  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  The  face  here 
is  much  grimmer,  and  shows  something  of  Nelson's 
fighting  look — something  of  that  stern  and  iron 
resolution  which  was  in  him  under  all  the  ardour 
and  the  tenderness ;  which  enabled  him  to  take 
tremendous  risks  and  win  tremendous  battles. 
He  must  have  been  difficult  to  paint,  for  his  face 
varied  so  much  in  expression :  he  could  look  grim 
and  hard,  as  in  this  later  portrait  of  Abbott's,  or  in 
Thaller's  powerful  bust,  with  its  deeply  accentuated 
dragging  lines  around  the  mouth ;  and  he  could  look 
as  sensitive  and  melancholy  as  in  Hoppner's  well- 
known  portrait.  The  Naval  Chronicle  records 
that  one  artist  at  least  felt  the  task  of  painting 
Nelson  beyond  his  powers.  After  the  Nile,  the 
"  band  of  brothers  "  were  anxious  to  have  a  por- 
trait of  their  Admiral,  and  to  that  end  asked  "  one 
of  the  most  eminent  painters  in  Italy  "  to  come  to 
breakfast  and  meet  Nelson,  beginning  his  picture 
immediately  afterwards.  The  artist  came,  but 
made  no  preparation  for  setting  to  work,  and  on 
being  asked  when  he  intended  to  commence  the 
portrait,  said,  "  Never  !  There  is  such  a  mixture 
of  humility  with  ambition  in  Lord  Nelson's  coun- 
tenance, that  I  dare  not  risk  the  attempt." 

There  was  an  artist  who  at  least  could  see — that 
he  dare  not  paint  is  our  loss.  The  contradictory 
qualities  of  Nelson's  character  are  part  of  its 
perennial  charm.  In  battle  he  was  both  fire  and 
ice ;  while  he  could  be  petulant  and  perverse  as  a 
child,  or  tender,  passionate,  and  self-sacrificing. 

120 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

Hoppner  has  caught  the  almost  feminine  sweetness 
of  his  look  at  times — the  sensitive  lips,  the  melan- 
choly-lidded eyes,  the  pain-drawn  lines  round  the 
mouth  ;  the  whole  sharpened  and  eager  face  shows 
us  the  quick  workings  of  that  spirit  which  suffered 
and  dared  so  much.  The  very  heights  to  which 
Nelson  could  rise  were  only  possible  to  a  tempera- 
ment as  quickly  inspired  and  depressed  as  his. 
Heavier  natures  can  neither  suffer  nor  rejoice  with 
such  exquisite  acuteness.  In  our  Admiral's  face 
can  be  seen  the  fine  metal  he  was  compact  of — 
"  the  bright  steel  quivering  "  —shaken  by  grief 
and  regret  and  yearning,  visited  by  storms  of 
anguish  in  those  long  pursuits  of  a  flying  foe  which 
almost  tore  his  frail  body  in  pieces ;  but  through 
it  all  the  quality  of  the  "  bright  steel  "  is  felt, 
instant  in  action,  inevitable  as  fate,  a  very  thunder- 
bolt of  battle.  The  feminine  side  of  him  gave 
lovableness  to  his  character,  gave  the  "  Nelson 
touch  "  its  amazing  power  to  wring  and  brighten 
the  hearts  of  men ;  but  it  never  impaired  or 
weakened  his  masculine  spirit,  his  close  grip  of 
reality,  his  unshaken  courage,  his  inspired  Tightness 
of  action. 

It  was  four  months  from  Nelson's  leaving 
England  in  the  spring  of  1798  to  the  Battle  of  the 
Nile  :  it  was  two  months  after  that  before  the 
news  of  the  victory  reached  England.  The  slow- 
ness with  which  news  travelled  in  those  days  was 
accentuated  by  the  unfortunate  capture  of  the 
Leander  on  her  homeward  way  with  despatches. 

121 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Therefore  we  have  Nelson's  father  calmly  writing 
from  Ipswich  on  September  17th — when  the 
wounded  of  the  Nile  were  either  dead  or  recovered, 
the  shot  holes  mended,  the  triumph  celebrated : 
"  Lady  N.  is  apprehensive  this  place  may  be  too 
cold  for  the  winter,  and  Morover  the  House  wants 
paint  &,  therfore  Intends,  no  accident  preventing, 
to  remove  to  Bath  about  the  End  of  Nov." 

The  state  of  anxiety  and  ignorance  in  which  the 
nation  was  left  is  shown  by  a  letter  Lord  Spencer, 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  wrote  to  Nelson 
on  September  30th  :  "  You  may  easily,  my  dear 
Sir,  conceive  the  anxiety  we  have  been  under  about 
you,  and  your  operations  ;  and  the  distance  at 
which  you  are  placed  from  us,  increased  as  it  is 
by  the  present  inconvenient  situation  of  Europe 
for  communication,  makes  it  impossible  almost  to 
know  how  and  what  to  write  .  .  .  God  bless  you, 
dear  Sir  Horatio,  and  grant  that  we  may  very  soon 
have  some  good  tidings  from  you." 

The  good  tidings  came  very  soon  after  this. 
Lady  Spencer  has  vividly  described  how  the  news 
affected  her  husband :  *  "I  was  sitting  in  my 
drawing-room  talking  to  Mr.  Grenville  over  the 
pros  and  cons  ;  when  Mr.  Harrison,  Lord  Spencer's 
secretary,  burst  into  the  room,  and  cried  :  *  Such 
a  victory  was  never  heard  of — the  town  is  in  an 
uproar — my  lord  is  in  his  office — the  particulars 
have  not  transpired.'  And  away  he  went ! 

*  Diary  of  France*  Lady  Shtlley. 

122 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

"  In  about  half  an  hour  Lord  Spencer  sent  for 
me.  I  found  him  stretched  on  his  bed — pale  as 
death  !  He  pressed  my  hand  and  said  :  '  God  be 
thanked  ! '  At  length  my  suspense  was  relieved. 
I  heard  full  particulars  from  the  secretaries. 
They  told  me  that  when  Lord  Spencer  heard  that 
there  was  not  even  one  ship  lost,  he  turned  round, 
without  speaking,  and  had  scarcely  got  out  of  his 
office,  when  he  fell  on  the  floor  insensible.  His 
joy  had  mastered  him  !  " 

The  great  news  found  the  hero's  father  and  wife 
still  at  Roundwood.  Instantly  the  father  wrote 
to  Catherine  Matcham,  then  living  at  Kensington 
Place,  Bath  :  "  This  morn  an  express  from  Lord 
Duncan  arrived  at  Roundwood,  with  the  News  of 
the  Glorious  victory  your  Great  and  Good  Brother 
has  obtained.  ...  A  universall  Joy  is  Spread." 

Congratulations  were,  of  course,  showered  upon 
the  Nelson  family  by  all  their  friends  and  ac- 
quaintance, public  and  private.  When  the  great 
tidings  reached  Ipswich  on  October  3rd,  the 
Freedom  was  instantly  voted  to  the  victorious 
Admiral  whose  home  was  so  near.  Flags  were 
hoisted  on  the  churches  and  all  the  bells  rung. 
In  the  evening,  at  five  o'clock,  the  Ipswich  Volun- 
teers and  light  cavalry  assembled  on  the  Stoke 
Hills,  and  forming  a  line  a  mile  long,  they  fired  a 
feu  de  joie,  repeating  it  three  times.  At  night 
the  town  was  illuminated.  On  the  16th  a  ball 
was  given  at  the  Assembly  Rooms  in  Tower  Street, 
and  this  spirited  little  account  from  the  Ipswich 

123 


Journal   of   Saturday,    October   20th,    gives   the 
feeling  of  the  time  : 

"  The  Ball  and  Supper  at  the  Assembly  Rooms 
in  this  town  on  Tuesday  last,  in  commemoration 
of  the  Right  Hon.  Admiral  Lord  Nelson's  victory, 
were  in  a  high  degree  brilliant,  and  worthy  of  the 
great  and  important  occasion.  At  7  o'clock  the 
company  began  to  assemble ;  about  8  Lady  Nelson's 
arrival  was  announced  by  the  ringing  of  bells  and 
repeated  huzzas  of  a  vast  concourse  of  people  in 
the  street.  Her  Ladyship  was  introduced  into 
the  Ball-room  by  Admiral  Sir  Richard  Hughes, 
Bart.,  and  Admiral  Reeve,  who  conducted  her 
to  the  top  of  the  room,  attended  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Nelson,  the  venerable  father  of  the  Admiral. 
Then  followed  Captain  Bourchier  leading  up  Miss 
Berry,  sister  to  Captain  Berry  of  the  Vanguard. 
On  their  entrance  they  were  welcomed  by  the 
grateful  respects  of  the  company,  the  regimental 
Bands  playing  *  Rule  Britannia.'  It  is  not  easy  to 
conceive  the  sensations  that  at  this  time  prevailed  ; 
all  seemed  to  feel  in  their  hearts  an  event  so  glorious 
to  their  King  and  Country,  that  had  been  the  means 
of  concentrating  the  principal  families  in  the  town 
and  neighbourhood. 

"  Dancing  soon  after  commenced,  and  continued 
until  near  12,  when  the  company  consisting  of  300, 
were  regaled  with  an  elegant  supper.  Many 
appropriate  toasts  were  drunk,  and  much  social 
harmony  exhibited  during  a  festive  period  of  two 
hours.  Dancing  was  then  resumed  and  continued 

124 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

until  the  morning.  The  Ball-room  was  ornamented 
with  wreaths  of  flowers ;  at  the  top  was  a  whole 
length  transparency  of  the  Gallant  Admiral  sur- 
rounded by  naval  trophies,  with  a  drawn  sword 
in  his  left  hand,  and  his  right  foot  upon  a  cannon. 
On  the  side  of  the  room  were  two  other  trans- 
parencies ;  one  representing  the  battle  of  Bequiers, 
and  the  other  Neptune,  ploughing  the  ocean  with 
the  Hero  of  the  Nile  in  his  car.  The  outside  of 
the  Assembly  Room  was  lighted  up  with  varie- 
gated lamps.  Mirth  and  good  humour  went  hand 
in  hand,  and  some  of  the  jovial  fools  did  not  depart 
till  the  glow-worm  had  showed  the  matin  to  be 
near." 

It  must  have  been  a  proud  and  unclouded 
evening  to  Lady  Nelson,  the  wife  of  the  nation's 
hero,  and  cause  of  more  chastened  happiness  to 
the  good  old  Rector.  In  answer  to  a  congratu- 
latory letter  from  the  Reverend  Bryan  Allott, 
his  neighbour  in  Norfolk,  Nelson's  father  wrote 
in  his  characteristic  way :  "  My  great  and  good 
son  went  into  the  world  without  fortune,  but  with 
a  heart  replete  with  every  moral  and  religious 
virtue :  these  have  been  his  compass  to  steer  by, 
and  it  has  pleased  God  to  be  his  shield  in  the  day 
of  Battle,  and  to  give  success  to  his  wishes  to  be 
of  use  to  his  country,  which  seems  sensible  of  his 
services.  But  should  he  ever  meet  with  ingrati- 
tude, his  scars  would  plead  his  cause ;  for  at  the 
siege  of  Bastia  he  lost  an  eye,  at  Teneriffe  an  arm, 
on  the  memorable  14th  of  February  he  received 

125 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

a  severe  blow  on  his  body,  which  he  still  feels, 
and  now  a  wound  on  the  head.  After  all  this, 
you  will  believe  that  his  bloom  of  countenance 
must  be  faded ;  but  the  spirit  beareth  up  as  yet 
as  vigorous  as  ever.  On  the  29th  of  September 
he  completed  his  fortieth  year,  cheerful,  generous, 
and  good  ;  fearing  no  evil,  because  he  has  done 
none  ;  an  honour  to  my  grey  hairs,  which  with 
every  mark  of  old  age  increase  fast  upon  me." 

Substantial  signs  that  his  country  delighted  to 
honour  him  were  given  to  Nelson.  On  the  6th 
of  October — only  four  days  after  Captain  Capel 
brought  the  glorious  news  to  the  Admiralty — he 
was  created  a  peer,  by  the  title  of  Baron  Nelson 
of  the  Nile  and  of  Burnham  Thorpe  in  the  county 
of  Norfolk,  with  a  pension  of  £2,000  per  annum. 
When  the  Grant  was  moved  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  General  Walpole  expressed  the  opinion 
that  a  higher  degree  of  rank  should  be  conferred. 
Pitt  answered  that  it  was  needless  to  enter  into 
the  question.  "  Admiral  Nelson's  fame,"  he  de- 
clared, "  would  be  coequal  with  the  British  name  ; 
and  it  would  be  remembered  that  he  had  obtained 
the  greatest  naval  victory  on  record,  when  no  man 
would  think  of  asking,  whether  he  had  been 
created  a  baron,  a  viscount,  or  an  earl." 

The  thanks  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  was 
voted  to  Nelson,  and  Lord  Minto,  who,  as  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot,  had  known  the  hero  in  earlier  days, 
made  a  noble  and  touching  speech  on  this  occa- 
sion. He  referred  to  the  battle  as  "  this  more 

126 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

than  epic  action."  He  said,  amid  a  speech  too 
long  to  quote  in  full :  "  Were  I  to  indulge  myself 
on  the  details  of  this  memorable  day,  and  in  trac- 
ing all  its  beneficial  consequences,  I  should  quickly 
be  drawn  out  of  my  own  depth,  and  beyond  the 
limits  of  your  Lordships'  time.  I  refrain,  therefore, 
content  with  having  used  the  opportunity  of 
rendering  to  this  great  man,  and  signal  event, 
the  homage  at  least  of  an  ardent  and  humble 
affection.  I  will  indeed  trust  that  the  sentiments 
I  profess  towards  my  extraordinary  friend  will 
not  be  deemed  entirely  of  a  private  nature,  and 
may  be  admitted  into  somewhat  of  a  higher 
class  ;  since  they  were  excited  by  a  daily  and 
hourly  contemplation,  for  a  considerable  period 
of  time,  of  the  most  unremitting  exertions  of 
zeal,  ability,  application,  and  courage  in  the 
service  of  his  country  :  not  on  one  occasion,  but 
on  all ;  not  in  one  branch  of  service,  but  in  all ; 
in  a  long  course  of  naval  vigilance,  and  persever- 
ance, in  battles  at  sea,  in  sieges  on  shore  ...  It 
is  the  peculiar  privilege  of  my  friend  that,  from 
the  beginning  of  his  life,  there  have  been  few  of  his 
actions  which  could  be  surpassed,  unless  it  were 
by  some  other  action  of  his  own." 

One  of  Nelson's  first  acts  after  the  victory  was 
to  send  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  the  sword  of 
the  surviving  French  Admiral  Blanquet,  with  the 
request  that  the  city  would  accept  it,  "  as  a  re- 
membrance, that  Britannia  still  rules  the  Waves, 
which,  that  she  may  for  ever  do,  is  the  fervent 

127 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

prayer  of  your  Lordship's  most  obedient  Servant, 
Horatio  Nelson."  In  return,  the  City  of  London 
voted  their  most  distinguished  Freeman  a  sword 
of  the  value  of  two  hundred  guineas,  while  the 
East  India  Company  gave  him  £10,000,  and  the 
Turkey  Company  a  very  valuable  piece  of  plate. 
Abroad,  diamond  swords,  boxes,  and  plumes  were 
lavished  on  him,  while  the  King  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  gave  him  the  Dukedom  and  estate  of 
Bronte,  which,  as  it  turned  out,  he  never  either 
saw  or  got  any  good  from  in  his  lifetime.  His 
friend  Alexander  Davison,  who  had  been  appointed 
prize-agent  for  the  captured  ships,  had  a  fine  Nile 
medal  struck  at  his  own  expense — gold  for  the 
Admiral  and  captains,  silver  for  lieutenants,  gilt 
metal  for  the  petty  officers,  and  bronze  for  every 
seaman  and  marine  who  served  in  the  action. 

Another  Nile  relic,  having  a  special  personal 
interest,  as  Nelson  presented  it  to  Lady  Hamilton, 
is  the  French  Admiral  Brueys'  silver  wine-flagon,* 
rescued  from  the  wreck  and  burning  of  U Orient, 
his  flagship,  by  some  extraordinary  chance.  It 
is  large  and  very  solid,  elaborate  in  design,  with 
the  spout  in  the  form  of  a  lion's  head.  On  one 
side  Nelson  has  had  engraved  : 
"  Wine  Flagon  of  Admiral  Brueys 

the  bravest  &  best  of  Sailors 

four  times  wounded,   the  fourth  time  shot  in 

on  board  his  ship  L' Orient  [twain 

dying  just  before  her  explosion." 

*  Now  in  the  possession  of  T.  J.  Barratt,  Esq.,  Hampstead. 

128 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

On  the  other  side  is  written — 

"  Nelson  to  Emma 
In  Commemoration  of  the 

Victory  of  the  Nile 
Vanguard.     Sept  29th  1798 
my  fortieth  Birthday." 

Amid  all  the  congratulations  and  praises  of 
this  victory  there  is  no  trace  of  the  letter  Lady 
Nelson  must  have  written  her  triumphant  husband. 
Letters  of  other  women  survive,  notably  Lady 
Hamilton's,  Lady  Spencer's,  and  Lady  Parker's, 
as  well  as  many  generous  and  beautiful  letters 
from  Nelson's  comrades-in-arms.  Collingwood,  in 
writing,  remembered  the  wife  at  home :  "  Say  to 
Lady  Nelson  when  you  write  to  her,  how  much  I 
congratulate  her  on  the  safety,  the  honours,  and 
the  services  of  her  husband.  Good  God,  what 
must  be  her  feelings,  how  great  her  gratitude  to 
heaven  for  such  mercies  !  " 

Burnham  Thorpe,  as  the  proud  birthplace  of 
England's  hero,  naturally  celebrated  the  Nile 
with  much  ardour.  Most  of  the  Nelson  family 
being  absent  from  Burnham,  either  at  Ipswich  or 
Bath,  these  celebrations  were  led  by  Sir  Mordaunt 
Martin,  an  old  friend  of  the  Nelsons,  who  had  lived 
for  many  years  at  the  little  market  town  of  Burn- 
ham  Westgate,  close  to  Burnham  Thorpe.  In  the 
true  rural  fashion,  the  Nile  was  celebrated  by  a 
sheep  roasted  whole  and  an  "  excellent  song 
formed  for  the  occasion  from  the  old  Rule  Britannia 

129  K 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

and  sung  by  Mr.  Carter  and  the  Burnham  Ulph 
Band."  A  subscription  was  raised  for  the  families 
of  the  killed  and  wounded,  and  in  the  first  evening 
amounted  to  three  pounds,  nineteen  shillings — 
no  mean  sum  for  a  small  and  poor  parish,  prin- 
cipally consisting  of  agricultural  labourers,  like 
Burnham.  Among  the  first  names  on  the  list, 
which  Sir  Mordaunt  Martin  had  pasted  on  the 
church  door,  was  Samuel  Dolman,  for  himself  and 
his  wife  and  seven  children,  a  penny  each — 9d. 
That  large  tribute  from  a  narrow  earning  would 
have  gone  home  to  Nelson's  heart  had  he  seen  it, 
for  he  remembered  the  poor  of  his  parish  and 
knew  the  hardness  of  the  labourer's  lot. 

While  these  milder  festivities  were  taking  place 
in  England,  Nelson  was  immersed  in  the  gratitude 
and  glorifications  of  the  Sicilian  Court,  and  in 
the  expansive  flatteries  and  very  real  kindness  of 
Emma  Hamilton.  Already  the  Hamiltons  were 
beginning  to  take  a  very  high  place  in  his  regard. 
He  had  told  his  wife  on  his  first  arrival  at  Naples, 
"  I  hope  some  day  to  have  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing you  to  Lady  Hamilton,  she  is  one  of  the 
very  best  women  in  this  world ;  she  is  an  honour 
to  her  sex."  A  few  days  later  he  wrote  to  her 
again :  "  My  pride  is  being  your  husband,  the  son 
of  my  dear  father,  and  in  having  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Hamilton  for  my  friends." 

Even  by  December  of  that  year  it  seems  that 
a  little  uneasiness  had  penetrated  to  the  minds 
of  Nelson's  friends  and  relations  at  home,  for  in 

130 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

that  month  Alexander  Davison,  writing  to  the 
Admiral,  says :  "  I  cannot  help  again  repeating  my 
sincere  regret  at  your  continuation  in  the  Medi- 
terranean." He  goes  on,  "  Your  valuable  better- 
half  writes  to  you.  She  is  in  good  health,  but 
very  uneasy  and  anxious,  which  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at.  She  sets  off  with  the  good  old  man 
to-morrow  for  Bath.  .  .  .  Lady  Nelson  this  mo- 
ment calls,  and  is  with  my  wife.  She  bids  me  say, 
that  unless  you  return  home  in  a  few  months,  she 
will  join  the  Standard  at  Naples.  Excuse  a 
woman's  tender  feelings — they  are  too  acute  to  be 
expressed." 

Some  time  later  than  this  Nelson's  father, 
writing  to  him,  said:  "  Though  your  reputation, 
my  dear  good  Horatio,  stands  high,  very  high, 
yet  we  all  know  that  the  most  beautiful  building 
may  receive  an  injury  by  some  accidental  event, 
or  by  a  secret  enemy,  before  it  is  completely  finished. 
I  do  most  heartily  wish  your  work  had  received 
its  final  polish  from  those,  in  whose  hands  are 
solid,  golden,  and  lasting  ornaments." 

But  already  Nelson  was  too  much  tangled  up  in 
the  complicated  affairs  of  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Two  Sicilies,  too  much  wrought  upon  by  the 
requests  of  the  Queen  not  to  desert  her,  and  the 
charms  of  Lady  Hamilton,  to  wrench  himself  free 
and  return  to  his  home  and  his  family.  The  harm 
was  already  done,  though  his  passion  for  Emma 
Hamilton  had  not  reached  the  heights  it  was  to 
know  before  he  returned  to  England.  Towards 

131 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

the  close  of  1799,  rumour  had  so  definitely  gone 
home  that  Admiral  Goodall  actually  wrote  to 
Nelson,  "  They  say  here,  my  good  Lord,  that  you 
are  Rinaldo  in  the  arms  of  Armida,  and  that  it 
requires  the  firmness  of  an  Ubaldo  and  his  brother 
knight  to  draw  you  from  the  enchantress."  The 
Admiral's  dear  "  band  of  brothers "  were  dis- 
tressed for  his  reputation,  and  notably  the  good 
Trowbridge,  who  loved  him,  and  wrote  to  him  : 
"  I  trust  the  war  will  soon  be  over,  and  deliver 
us  from  a  nest  of  everything  that  is  infamous,  and 
that  we  may  enjoy  the  smiles  of  our  countrymen. 
Your  Lordship  is  a  stranger  to  half  that  happens, 
or  the  talk  it  occasions  ...  I  beseech  your 
Lordship  leave  off.  I  wish  my  pen  could  tell  you 
my  feelings,  I  am  sure  you  would  oblige  me.  I 
trust  your  Lordship  will  pardon  me ;  it  is  the 
sincere  esteem  I  have  for  you  that  makes  me  risk 
your  displeasure." 

How  pathetically  inadequate  were  Trowbridge's 
pleadings,  when  not  his  own  honourable  heart  and 
the  religious  teachings  of  his  father  and  all  that 
he  had  hitherto  held  dear  could  make  Nelson 
"  leave  off."  How  unhappy  he  was  at  this  time 
is  shown  in  many  of  his  letters.  He  tells  Alex- 
ander Davison  that  he  envies  none  save  those  of 
the  estate  six  feet  by  two.  He  writes  to  his  old 
friend,  Lady  Parker  :  "  My  health  is  such  that 
without  a  great  alteration,  I  will  venture  to  say 
a  very  short  space  of  time  will  send  me  to  that 
bourne  from  whence  none  return.  .  .  .  You  who 

132 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

remember  me  always  laughing  and  gay,  would 
hardly  believe  the  change  ;  but  who  can  see  what 
I  have  and  be  well  in  health  ?  Kingdoms  lost  and 
a  Royal  Family  in  distress  ;  but  they  are  pleased 
to  place  confidence  hi  me,  and  whilst  I  live  and  my 
services  can  be  useful  to  them,  I  shall  never  leave 
this  Country,  although  I  know  that  nothing  but 
the  air  of  England,  and  peace  and  quietness,  can 
perfectly  restore  me." 

But  though  he  wrote  about  coming  home,  he 
did  not  do  so,  and  was  determined  not  to  do  so 
until  the  Hamiltons  could  come  with  him.  At 
last,  in  the  spring  of  1800,  he  received  an  intimation 
from  official  quarters  that  it  was  time  he  returned. 
Earl  Spencer  wrote  to  him  very  kindly  but  firmly  : 
"  I  am  quite  clear,  and  I  believe  I  am  joined  in 
opinion  by  all  your  friends  here,  that  you  will  be 
more  likely  to  recover  your  health  and  strength 
in  England,  than  in  an  inactive  situation  at  a 
foreign  court,  however  pleasing  the  respect  and 
gratitude  shown  to  you  for  your  services  may  be  ; 
and  no  testimonies  of  respect  and  gratitude,  from 
that  court  to  you,  can  be,  I  am  convinced,  too 
great  for  the  very  essential  services  you  have 
rendered  it.  I  trust  you  will  receive  in  good  part 
what  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  write  to  you  as 
a  friend." 

In  Nelson's  absence  from  England  the  home-life 
of  his  family  continued  quietly,  varied  by  visits 
to  Bath  and  London,  by  the  little  ups  and  downs 
of  old  Mr.  Nelson's  health,  by  hopes — so  often 

133 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

deferred — of  the  Admiral's  return,  and  by  a  careful, 
well-bred  suppression  of  that  uneasiness  which 
both  his  wife  and  father  could  not  but  feel.  That 
Lady  Nelson  tried  to  put  a  good  face  on  things 
which  must  secretly  have  made  her  unhappy, 
even  though  her  affections  were  not  of  the  deepest, 
is  shown  hi  a  letter  she  wrote  her  absent  Lord  at 
the  close  of  1799 — the  letter  is  written  from 
Davison's  house  in  St.  James's  Square :  "  Sir 
Peter  and  Lady  Parker  called  yesterday.  We 
have  agreed  to  go  and  see  the  famous  French 
Milliner.  Lady  P.  declares  they  will  put  me  in 
sack  and  send  me  to  Bonaparte.  Her  spirits  are 
good  indeed.  She  sends  Sir  Peter  to  the  Ad- 
miralty to  hear  when  you  are  expected  home." 
That  was  really  the  most  important  matter  to  her, 
though  she  consoled  herself  to  some  extent  with 
other  things  :  "I  have  ordered  a  suit  of  clothes 
for  her  Majesty's  birthday.  I  am  frightened  to  tell 
you  the  expense  of  your  new  chariot — nothing 
fine  about  it,  only  fashionable — £352,  harness,  etc., 
for  one  pair  of  horses." 

Nelson's  letters  home  at  this  time  are  scanty, 
and  contain  apologies  for  not  writing  oftener ; 
his  epistles  to  his  wife  were  not  calculated  to  make 
her  happy,  as  they  are  cold  and  abrupt  in  tone  and 
the  expressions  of  affection  are  but  formal.  Some 
time  earlier  Lady  Nelson  had  become  sufficiently 
disturbed  at  the  rumours  and  his  absence  to 
suggest  that  she  should  come  out  and  join  him. 
Nelson  rebuked  this  very  natural  wish,  and  said : 

134 


THE  YEARS  OF  ABSENCE 

"  You  would  by  February  have  seen  how  un- 
pleasant it  would  have  been  had  you  followed  any 
advice  which  carried  you  from  England  to  a 
wandering  sailor.  I  could,  if  you  had  come,  only 
have  struck  my  flag,  and  carried  you  back  again, 
for  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  set  up 
an  establishment  at  either  Naples  or  Palermo." 

No  impossibility  is  obvious,  except  his  dis- 
inclination ;  for  he  set  up  an  establishment  at 
Palermo  with  Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton. 

In  a  letter  written  to  him  shortly  before  he  left 
Palermo  Lady  Nelson  had  said  rather  touchingly  : 
"  I  can  with  safety  put  my  hand  on  my  heart  and 
say  it  has  been  my  study  to  please  and  make  you 
happy,  and  I  still  flatter  myself  we  shall  meet 
before  very  long.  I  feel  most  sensibly  all  your 
kindnesses  to  my  dear  son,  and  I  hope  he  will  add 
much  to  our  comfort.  Our  good  father  has  been 
in  good  spirits  ever  since  we  heard  from  you  ; 
indeed,  my  spirits  were  quite  worn  out,  the  time 
has  been  so  long." 

The  time  had  been  long — and  rumour  and 
uneasiness  had  made  it  longer.  When  at  last 
Lord  Nelson,  Duke  of  Bronte,  set  out  on  his 
homeward  journey,  he  was  accompanied  by  the 
Hamiltons,  and  made  no  scruple  of  showing  his 
devotion  to  Lady  Hamilton  in  that  long  overland 
progress  through  Europe,  which  he  made  the  longer 
by  a  month's  stay  in  Vienna.  All  the  diarists 
of  the  day  who  met  the  Hamilton-Nelson  party 
during  this  progress  give  an  impression  of  uplifted 

135 


hands  and  raised  eyebrows  in  their  comments. 
It  was  not  a  happy  way  for  the  great  and  war- 
worn Admiral  to  return  to  his  own  country.  But 
by  the  winter  of  1800  his  passion  for  Emma  Hamil- 
ton had  carried  him  beyond  consideration  of  public 
opinion,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  justified  of  his 
love  because  it  possessed  the  whole  of  his  ardent 
heart.  Such  being  the  situation,  the  break  and  the 
parting  with  his  wife  were  inevitable  once  he 
reached  England. 


136 


CHAPTER  VIII :    ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE. 

NELSON  landed  at  Yarmouth,  in  his  native 
county  of  Norfolk,  on  the  6th  of  November, 
1800.  It  was  the  first  time  England  had 
seen  the  Victor  of  the  Nile,  and  Yarmouth  blos- 
somed into  bunting,  salutes,  and  cheers  with 
hearty  seafaring  enthusiasm.  So  soon  as  he  stepped 
ashore,  says  the  Naval  Chronicle,  "  the  populace 
assembled  in  crowds  to  greet  the  gallant  Hero  of 
the  Nile  ;  and,  taking  the  horses  from  his  carriage, 
drew  him  to  the  Wrestler's  Inn  amidst  bursts  of 
applause.  The  Mayor  and  Corporation  imme- 
diately waited  on  his  Lordship,  and  presented  him 
with  the  Freedom  of  the  Town,  some  time  since 
voted  to  him  for  his  eminent  services.  The 
infantry  in  the  Town  paraded  before  the  inn  where 
he  lodged,  with  their  regimental  band,  etc.,  firing 
feux-de-joie  of  musketry  and  ordnance  till  mid- 
night. The  Corporation  in  procession,  with  the 
respectable  Officers  of  the  Navy,  went  to  church 
with  him,  accompanied  by  Sir  William  and  Lady 
Hamilton,  to  join  in  thanksgiving.  On  leaving 
the  Town,  the  Corps  of  Cavalry  unexpectedly 
drew  up,  saluted,  and  followed  the  carriage,  not 
only  to  the  Town's  end,  but  to  the  boundary  of 
the  County.  All  the  Ships  in  the  harbour  had 
their  colours  flying." 

137 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Nelson  gave  £50  to  the  Mayor  for  distribution 
and  five  guineas  to  the  Town  Clerk.  Lady 
Hamilton  took  part  in  all  these  doings.  When  the 
Admiral  landed  she  walked  down  the  little  wooden 
jetty  with  her  hand  on  his  arm  ;  when  he  addressed 
the  people  from  the  balcony  of  the  Wrestler's  Inn 
she  stood  by  his  side.  But  there  were  few  at 
Yarmouth  prepared  to  criticise  Nelson's  good 
pleasure,  and  a  handsome  woman's  smiles  went  far 
with  the  simple  seaport.  The  slights  and  coldness 
Nelson  met  with  in  later  years  came  not  from  the 
people,  who  adored  him  to  his  death,  but  from 
those  in  high  places  who  were  stamped  with  the 
curious  official  fear  of  recognising  a  hero  before 
he  was  safely  buried. 

Lady  Nelson  was  not  among  those  who  wel- 
comed the  Admiral  at  Yarmouth.  This  has  been 
unjustly  put  down  to  her  coldness,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  it  was  in  direct  obedience  to  his  wishes 
that  she  awaited  him  in  London.  The  coldness 
seems  to  have  been  on  Nelson's  side,  for  he  desired 
Alexander  Davison  to  inform  his  wife  of  his  im- 
pending return  to  England, — "  I  fancy  that  your 
anxious  mind  will  be  relieved  by  receiving  all  that 
you  hold  sacred  and  valuable,"  Davison  had  told 
her, — and  then  left  her  and  every  one  else  in 
considerable  doubt  both  as  to  the  place  and  time 
of  his  arrival.  How  little  they  all  knew  is  shown 
by  a  letter  of  Captain  Hardy's  *  at  this  time  : 

"  Notwithstanding  all  the  Newspapers,  his  Lord- 

*  Tli ret  Dorset  Cuptnlnr. 

138 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

ship  is  not  arrived  in  town,  and  when  he  will 
God  only  knows.  His  Father  has  lost  all  patience, 
her  Ladyship  bears  up  very  well  as  yet  but  I 
much  fear  she  also  will  soon  despond.  He  certainly 
arrived  at  Yarmouth  on  Thursday  last  and  there 
has  been  no  letter  received  by  anybody.  Should 
he  not  arrive  to-morrow  I  think  I  shall  set  off  for 
Yarmouth  as  I  know  too  well  the  cause  of  his  not 
coming." 

On  his  journey  to  London  Nelson  passed 
through  Ipswich,  a  fact  which  is  naturally  noticed 
in  the  Ipswich  Journal:  "Saturday  between  11 
and  12  o'clock  Lord  Nelson,  accompanied  by  Sir 
W.  and  Lady  Hamilton  arrived  at  Bamford's 
Hotel  in  the  town.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  he 
was  waited  on  by  several  gentlemen  and  con- 
gratulated on  his  arrival.  On  getting  into  his 
carriage,  the  populace  unharnessed  the  horses 
and  drew  him  to  the  end  of  St.  Matthews  street 
amidst  repeated  acclamations. 

"  Coming  from  Yarmouth  his  Lordship  stopped 
nearly  an  hour  at  his  house  at  the  Roundwood, 
about  a  mile  from  hence,  and  seemed  much  pleased 
with  the  improvements  Lady  Nelson  had  made 
there  in  his  absence." 

At  last,  on  Saturday,  the  8th  of  November, 
Nelson  and  the  Hamiltons  entered  London — Nelson 
wearing  full  uniform,  with  his  three  stars  and  two 
gold  medals  on  his  breast.  They  all  drove  together 
to  Nerot's  Hotel  in  King  Street,  St.  James's — the 
St.  James's  Theatre  now  stands  on  the  site  of  that 

139 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

hotel.  There  he  found  his  wife  and  father  await- 
ing him.  No  record  exists  of  what  took  place  at 
this  first  meeting  after  the  long  separation,  though 
his  reception  by  Lady  Nelson  is  said  to  have  been 
extremely  cold  and  mortifying  to  his  feelings. 
At  Hamburg,  on  his  way  home,  Nelson  had  bought 
his  wife  some  beautiful  lace  for  a  Court  dress  ;  but 
though  he  brought  her  this  and  many  other  of 
those  "  little  luxuries  "  which  he  had  earlier  said 
she  so  deserved,  his  lack  of  affection  for  her  and 
his  devotion  to  Lady  Hamilton  was  too  obvious 
to  be  condoned. 

It  is  quite  probable — for  he  was  as  capable  of 
petulance  as  of  generosity — that  Nelson  considered 
himself  injured  by  his  wife's  coldness  and  vexation, 
forgetting  the  far  greater  injury  he  had  done  her 
in  his  manner  of  coming  back  to  her  and  his  delay 
in  doing  it.  That  first  meeting  must  have  been 
miserable  enough  on  both  sides,  and  Nelson 
shortened  it  by  going — though  it  was  Saturday— 
in  the  evening  to  see  Lord  Spencer  at  the  Admiralty. 

On  Monday,  the  10th — owing  to  the  9th  being 
Sunday — the  Lord  Mayor's  Feast  was  celebrated, 
and  Nelson  was  invited.  When  his  carriage 
reached  Ludgate  Hill  the  mob  took  the  horses  out 
and  drew  him,  with  cheers,  to  the  Guildhall.  As  he 
passed  along  Cheapside  he  was  greeted  with  huzzas, 
and  ladies  leaned  from  the  windows  and  waved 
their  handkerchiefs  to  the  Hero  of  the  Nile ;  his 
slight  and  war-worn  figure  held  all  eyes.  At  the 
Guildhall  he  was  presented  with  the  sword  which 

140 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

had  been  voted  to  him  by  the  City  when  the  news 
of  the  Nile  reached  England  :  a  unique  and  beau- 
tiful sword,  with  the  emblematic  crocodile  as  its 
hilt.  Standing,  as  he  was  requested,  under  a 
triumphal  arch,  Nelson  acknowledged  the  gift, 
saying,  "It  is  with  the  greatest  pride  and  satis- 
faction that  I  receive  from  the  Honourable  Court 
this  testimony  of  their  approbation  of  my  conduct ; 
and,  with  this  very  sword  "  —holding  it  up  as  he 
spoke—  '  I  hope  soon  to  aid  in  reducing  our  im- 
placable and  inveterate  enemy  to  proper  and  due 
limits ;  without  which,  this  country  can  neither 
hope  for,  nor  expect  a  solid,  honourable,  and 
permanent  peace." 

London  loved  him  and  took  every  opportunity 
to  show  its  worship  :  "  Wherever  he  appeared, 
he  was  followed  with  mingled  astonishment  and 
even  veneration  by  the  thronging  multitude,  as 
a  being  of  a  superior  nature."  Medals  were 
struck  to  commemorate  his  return — Britannia 
crowning  his  ship  with  laurels.  The  legend  round 
runs,  "  Hail,  virtuous  hero  !  Thy  victories  we 
acknowledge,  and  thy  God."  While  underneath 
is  "  Return  to  England,  November  5,  1800." 

Another  link  which  associates  Nelson  with  the 
Guildhall  is  the  bust  the  Honourable  Mrs.  Ann 
Seymour  Darner  made  of  him  and  presented  to  the 
Guildhall,  for  which  he  must  have  given  sittings 
after  his  return  from  the  Nile,  and  which  was  the 
means  of  preserving  his  Nile  coat  for  the  nation. 
"  The  last  time  he  sat  to  her,  he  good  humouredly 

141 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

asked  her  what  he  could  give  her  for  the  high 
honour  which  she  had  conferred  on  him,  and  for 
all  the  trouble  which  she  had  taken  on  the  occa- 
sion. She  answered,  '  One  of  your  old  Coats ' ; 
on  which  he  replied,  '  You  shall  immediately  have 
one,  and  it  shall  be  the  one  which  I  value  the  most 
highly — the  one  which  I  wore  during  the  whole  day 
of  the  Battle  of  the  Nile,  and  which  I  have  never 
worn,  nor  even  allowed  to  be  brushed,  since,  in 
order  that  my  Naval  as  well  as  other  friends  may 
know,  from  the  streaks  of  perspiration  and  hair- 
powder  which  are  still  to  be  seen  on  it,  the  exertions 
which  I  made,  and  the  anxiety  which  I  felt  on 
that  day  to  deserve  the  approbation  of  my  King 
and  Country."  * 

Ten  days  after  he  had  been  presented  with  the 
sword  at  the  Guildhall  Nelson  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  He  was  introduced  in  his  robes 
between  Lord  Grenville  and  Lord  Romney,  pre- 
ceded by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  as  hereditary  Earl 
Marshal.  He  took  the  oaths,  the  usual  ceremonies 
were  gone  through,  and  he  then  took  his  seat 
between  the  peers  who  introduced  him. 

A  week  or  two  later  the  Directors  of  the  East 
India  Company  entertained  him  at  a  banquet 
at  the  London  Tavern  ;  the  Duke  of  York  and  Mr. 
Pitt  being  also  present.  When  his  health  was 
proposed,  Nelson  replied  simply  :  "It  afforded 
him  sincere  pleasure  that  the  Company's  possessions 

*  Ditpatches  and  Letter*,  Vol.  VII.  Mrs.  Darner  presented  this  Coat  to 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  himself  presented  it  to  Greenwich  Hospital. 

142 


BUST  OF  NELSON  BY  MRS.  DAMER,  AT  THE  GUILDHALL. 

From   the  Print  in  possession  of  Admiral  Sir  Wilmnt  Fawkes. 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

in  India  had  so  well  flourished,  owing  to  the  wise 
measures  pursued  by  the  honourable  Company  ; 
the  death  of  our  inveterate  foe,  Tippoo,  was  ac- 
complished, and  peace  restored.  The  object  of 
our  enemies,  the  French,  has  thus  been  frustrated. 
As  to  himself,  he  should  at  all  times  be  proud  to 
aid  the  interests  of  the  Company." 

So  much  for  the  public  honours  and  acclaim 
accorded  to  Nelson  on  his  return  from  the  Nile. 
The  splendour  of  his  position  as  the  idol  of  his 
country  but  accentuates  his  private  wretchedness. 
"  This  place  of  London  but  ill  suits  my  disposition," 
he  wrote,  bitterly,  on  finding  it  was  not  possible 
to  behave  in  London  as  he  had  done  at  Naples 
and  Palermo.  The  inevitable  clash  between  Lady 
Nelson  and  Lady  Hamilton  could  only  be  post- 
poned a  little  while,  though  at  first  there  was  some 
attempt  to  cover  up  an  intolerable  situation  with 
civilities.  Lady  Nelson  had  been  so  far  con- 
ciliatory as  to  write  to  Yarmouth  inviting  the 
Hamiltons  to  stay  with  herself  and  the  Admiral 
at  Roundwood.  Soon  after  reaching  London 
Lady  Hamilton  had  written  to  Lady  Nelson : 
"  I  would  have  done  myself  the  honour  of  calling 
on  you  and  Lord  Nelson  this  day,  but  I  am  not  well 
or  in  spirits." 

It  was  not  surprising  that  she  was  neither  well 
nor  in  spirits,  and  it  is  said  that  on  one  occasion 
when  Lady  Nelson,  at  her  husband's  command, 
had  accompanied  him  and  the  Hamiltons  to  a  play, 
Lady  Hamilton  fainted  and  Lady  Nelson,  going 

143 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

to  her  aid,  discovered  the  secret  which  confirmed 
her  worst  fears.  Nelson  tried  to  force  his  wife 
into  an  attitude  of  friendliness  to  his  mistress, 
and  when  he  found  that  his  infatuation  met  with 
general  disapproval  and  censure,  and  that  society 
sided  with  the  injured  and  blameless  Lady  Nelson, 
it  aroused  all  his  opposition  and  defiance.  His 
whole  mind  was  distempered ;  he  would  not  admit 
he  was  doing  wrong,  and  his  wife  began  to  appear 
to  him  as  an  enemy  to  be  crushed  instead  of  a 
woman  wounded  in  her  tenderest  feelings.  Even 
in  public  he  treated  her  ill.  Lady  Spencer  says 
that  he  behaved  to  her  with  "  every  mark  of 
dislike,  and  even  of  contempt."  "  Some  little 
time  after  his  return,"  she  continued,  "  I  invited 
Lady  Nelson,  and  him  to  dinner.  Having,  more 
than  once,  declined  the  invitation,  Nelson  at  last 
brought  her.  Such  a  contrast  I  never  beheld  ! 
A  trifling  circumstance  marked  it  very  strongly. 
After  dinner,  Lady  Nelson,  who  sat  opposite  to 
her  husband  (by  the  way,  he  never  spoke  during 
dinner,  and  looked  blacker  than  all  the  devils), 
perhaps  injudiciously,  but  with  a  good  intention, 
peeled  some  walnuts,  and  offered  them  to  him  in 
a  glass.  As  she  handed  it  across  the  table  Nelson 
pushed  it  away  from  him,  so  roughly  that  the 
glass  broke  against  one  of  the  dishes.  There  was 
an  awkward  pause  ;  and  then  Lady  Nelson  burst 
into  tears  !  When  we  retired  to  the  drawing-room 
she  told  me  how  she  was  situated."  * 

*  Diariet  of  Lady  Shelley. 

144 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

No  wonder  poor  Lady  Nelson  wept.  The 
contrast  between  that  miserable  dinner-party  at 
the  Admiralty  and  the  earlier  one,  when  her  hus- 
band's "  attentions  to  her  were  those  of  a  lover," 
must  have  been  too  bitter  to  be  borne. 

In  attempted  excuse  for  the  wrong  she  had  done 
her,  Emma  Hamilton  used  to  declare  that  Lady 
Nelson's  temper  and  upbraidings  drove  her  Lord 
into  wandering  wretchedly  all  one  night  through 
the  streets  of  London,  till  at  last  he  sought  refuge 
and  comfort  in  Grosvenor  Square,  where  the 
Hamiltons  were  temporarily  living.  But  under 
the  circumstances  it  was  not  surprising  if  Lady 
Nelson  was  driven  to  tears,  reproaches,  and  very 
possibly  anger  ;  and,  though  it  may  not  have  been 
the  wisest  way  to  deal  with  a  man  of  Nelson's 
difficult  temperament,  it  seems  certain  that  so 
entirely  had  his  love  strayed  from  her  into  Emma's 
keeping  that  no  steps  she  could  have  taken  would 
have  won  him  back.  There  is  no  evidence  of  any 
conciliatory  spirit  on  Nelson's  part  towards  his 
wife — that  reckless  ardour  which  characterised 
him  so  magnificently  in  battle  was  ruthlessly 
applied  to  his  domestic  problems.  His  wife  was 
in  his  way ;  she  was  an  enemy  to  his  wishes ;  she 
could  expect  no  consideration  and  he  gave  her  none. 
Nothing  more  marked,  nothing  crueller  to  her 
feelings  could  be  than  his  acceptance  of  "  Vathek  " 
Beckford's  invitation  to  him  and  the  Hamiltons 
to  spend  Christmas  at  Fonthill  Abbey  in  Wiltshire. 
Lady  Nelson  was  not  even  asked. 

145  L 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

So,  leaving  her  behind  in  London  lodgings  to 
spend  her  Christmas  without  the  husband  she  had 
not  seen  for  nearly  three  years,  Nelson  set  out  on 
this  journey,  which  the  enthusiastic  populace 
converted  into  a  triumphal  procession.  In  passing 
through  Salisbury  he  was  presented  with  its 
Freedom,  and  escorted  by  cavalry  some  distance 
outside  its  boundaries.  A  little  incident  took 
place  on  this  occasion  which  showed  that,  whatever 
his  private  troubles  or  public  glorification,  Nelson 
never  forgot  old  comrades-in-arms :  "At  the 
reception  at  Salisbury  by  the  Corporation,  on  the 
bestowal  of  the  freedom  of  that  city,  in  the  crowd 
assembled  before  the  Council  House  Nelson 
recognised  a  sailor  who  had  fought  at  the  Battle 
of  the  Nile,  called  him  forward,  expressed  the 
gratification  he  felt  at  meeting  one  who  had  stood 
with  him  in  the  dangers  of  that  celebrated  day, 
and  dismissed  him  with  a  handsome  present.  He 
perceived  another  man  loudly  huzzaing,  who  had 
been  with  him  at  the  time  he  underwent  the 
amputation  of  his  arm.  He  beckoned  him  to 
approach,  and  also  made  him  a  present ;  upon 
which,  on  withdrawing,  the  man  took  from  his 
bosom  a  piece  of  lace,  which  he  had  torn  from  the 
shirt-sleeve  of  the  amputated  arm,  as  a  token  in 
memory  of  his  gallant  commander." 

And  so  the  journey  to  Fonthill  proceeded.  There 
are  prints  in  existence  showing  the  postchaise 
with  Nelson  and  Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton 
driving  up  to  the  Gothic  entrance  of  Fonthill,  the 

146 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

postillions  with  flambeaux  in  their  hands  to  light 
the  winter  dark.  So  soon  as  they  entered  the  Park 
the  Fonthill  Volunteers  presented  arms,  and  pro- 
ceeded in  slow  procession  up  to  the  house,  the 
band  playing  "  Rule  Britannia."  On  the  landing 
of  the  great  flight  of  steps  William  Beckford  re- 
ceived his  guests  with  many  flourishes,  while  the 
Volunteers  performed  evolutions  on  the  lawn  and 
fired  salutes.  It  was  the  kind  of  scene  in  which 
Emma  Hamilton  delighted,  and  she  would  not  be 
less  happy  when,  at  six  o'clock,  the  large  company 
sat  down  to  dinner,  and  amid  candlelight  and 
compliments,  at  the  conclusion,  she  and  Banti  and 
Sapio  sang  "  God  save  the  King,"  and  other 
patriotic  songs.  We  can  imagine  her  full-throated 
singing,  with  every  look  and  gesture  directed 
towards  the  Admiral,  who  admired  her  so  simply 
and  whole-heartedly  that  on  one  occasion,  when 
she  was  giving  a  representation  of  her  famous 
"  Attitudes  "  and,  as  the  highest  praise,  had  been 
compared  to  Mrs.  Siddons,  he  walked  up  and  down, 
saying  fretfully  under  his  breath,  "  Damn  Mrs. 
Siddons !  " 

At  Fonthill  Lady  Hamilton  gave  another  ex- 
hibition of  her  "  Attitudes "  to  a  company  so 
numerous  that  it  took  eleven  carriages  to  convey 
the  party  from  scene  to  scene  of  the  elaborate 
revels  Beckford  had  devised ;  and  yet,  in  asking 
Nelson  and  the  Hamiltons,  he  had  promised  a 
"  few  comfortable  days  of  repose,  uncontaminated 
by  the  sight  and  prattle  of  drawing-room  parasites." 

147 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

A  rather  amusing  little  episode  of  this  Fonthill 
visit  is  told  by  Beckford  himself,  and  shows  the 
Hero  of  the  Nile  as  very  human  in  spite  of  his 
world-proclaimed  courage.  "  I  offered  to  show 
him,"  says  Beckford,  "  what  had  been  done  by 
planting  in  the  course  of  years.  Nelson  mounted 
by  my  side  in  a  phaeton,  drawn  by  four  well-trained 
horses,  which  I  drove.  There  was  not  the  least 
danger,  the  horses  being  perfectly  under  my 
command,  long  driven  by  myself.  Singular  to 
say,  we  had  not  gone  far  before  I  observed  a 
peculiar  anxiety  in  his  countenance,  and  presently 
he  said  :  '  This  is  too  much  for  me,  you  must  set 
me  down.'  I  assured  him  that  the  horses  were 
continually  driven  by  me,  and  that  they  were 
perfectly  under  command.  All  would  not  do. 
He  would  descend,  and  I  walked  the  vehicle  back 
again." 

After  these  somewhat  exhausting  Christmas 
amusements  Nelson  returned  to  London,  where  a 
heavy  blow  fell  upon  him  in  the  news  of  the  death 
of  his  old  friend  and  early  commander,  Commodore 
William  Locker,  Governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital. 
To  his  son  Nelson  wrote  immediately  : 

"  From  my  heart  do  I  condole  with  you  on  the 
great  and  irreparable  loss  we  have  all  sustained 
in  the  death  of  your  dear,  worthy  Father — a  man 
whom  to  know  was  to  love,  and  those  who  only 
heard  of  him  honoured.  The  greatest  consolation 
to  us,  his  friends  who  remain,  is,  that  he  has  left 
a  character  for  honour  and  honesty  which  none 

148 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

can  surpass,  and  very,  very  few  attain.  That 
the  posterity  of  the  righteous  will  prosper  we  are 
taught  to  believe  ;  and  on  no  occasion  can  it  be 
more  truly  verified  than  from  my  dear  much 
lamented  friend." 

Captain  Locker  was  buried  at  Addington  in 
Kent,  and  Nelson  attended  the  funeral. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1801,  Nelson  was  made  a 
Vice-Admiral  of  the  Blue.  Early  in  that  month 
came  his  final  rupture  and  parting  with  his  wife. 
Nelson's  solicitor,  William  Haslewood,  who  was 
present,  has  left  an  account  of  what  took  place  : 

'  I  was  breakfasting  with  Lord  and  Lady 
Nelson,  at  their  lodgings  in  Arlington  Street,  and 
a  cheerful  conversation  was  passing  on  indifferent 
subjects,  when  Lord  Nelson  spoke  of  something 
which  had  been  done  or  said  by  '  dear  Lady  Hamil- 
ton ' ;  upon  which  Lady  Nelson  rose  from  her  chair, 
and  exclaimed,  with  much  vehemence,  '  I  am  sick 
of  hearing  of  dear  Lady  Hamilton,  and  am  re- 
solved that  you  shall  give  up  either  her  or  me.' 
Lord  Nelson,  with  perfect  calmness,  said :  '  Take 
care,  Fanny,  what  you  say.  I  love  you  sincerely  ; 
but  I  cannot  forget  my  obligations  to  Lady  Hamil- 
ton, or  speak  of  her  otherwise  than  with  affection 
and  admiration.'  Without  one  soothing  word  or 
gesture,  but  muttering  something  about  her  mind 
being  made  up,  Lady  Nelson  left  the  room,  and 
shortly  after  drove  from  the  house.  They  never 
lived  together  again." 

Haslewood  also  declared  that  Nelson's  father, 

149 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

brother,  sisters  and  their  husbands  "  well  knew 
that  the  separation  was  unavoidable  "  on  his  part 
— a  statement  that  certainly  wants  weighing. 

And  so,  quite  definitely  and  sharply,  came  the 
end  of  this  marriage  founded  on  "  esteem  " — a 
marriage  of  unsuited  temperaments,  yet  not 
unaccompanied  by  happiness  and  tenderness  in 
the  years  before  Emma  Hamilton  cast  her  spells, 
like  another  Circe,  upon  the  simple-hearted  sea- 
man. Thenceforward  Lady  Nelson  was  outcast 
from  his  life  ;  and  in  that  desolate  separation,  that 
widowhood  of  heart,  she  remains  more  touching 
than  during  the  prosperous  periods  of  her  life. 
In  her  later  years,  we  are  told  by  one  who  knew 
her,  "  she  continually  talked  of  him,  and  always 
attempted  to  palliate  his  conduct  towards  her; 
was  warm  and  enthusiastic  in  her  praises  of  his 
public  achievements,  and  bowed  down  with  dig- 
nified submission  to  the  errors  of  his  domestic 
life." 

During  the  first  year  of  their  separation,  1801, 
she  wrote  to  her  husband  three  times.  Once  to 
thank  him  for  the  "  generosity  and  tenderness  " 
he  had  shown  in  the  handsome  allowance  he  had 
made  her ;  again  to  express  her  "  thankfulness 
and  happiness  "  that  he  had  survived  the  Battle 
of  the  Baltic  ;  and  a  third  time,  in  December, 
begging  that  the  past  might  be  forgotten  and  they 
live  together  again.  This  last  letter  was  returned 
to  her  unread.  The  breach  was  final.  "  Sooner 
than  live  the  unhappy  life  I  did  when  last  I  came 

150 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

to  England,"  Nelson  passionately  declared,  "  I 
would  stay  abroad  for  ever."  He  never  paused 
to  consider  how  much  of  that  unhappiness  was 
caused  by  himself  and  the  woman  for  whom  he 
had  a  guilty  love. 

The  Hamiltons,  by  this  time,  had  moved  into  a 
house  of  their  own,  No.  23,  Piccadilly,  one  of  the 
smaller  houses  looking  on  to  the  Green  Park,  and 
there — hearing  of  the  departure  of  his  wife — Sir 
William  Hamilton  asked  Nelson  to  join  them 
during  the  few  further  days  he  had  in  London 
before  joining  the  flagship  to  which  he  had  been 
appointed  at  Plymouth.  At  the  Hamiltons'  house 
the  Admiral  met  Flaxman,  who,  with  the  poet 
Hayley,  called  there  one  day.  They  entered  the 
room  just  as  Nelson  was  leaving  it.  "  Pray  stop 
a  little,  my  Lord,"  said  Sir  William,  "  I  desire 
you  to  shake  hands  with  Mr.  Flaxman,  for  he  is  a 
man  as  extraordinary,  in  his  way,  as  you  are  in 
yours.  Believe  me,  he  is  the  sculptor  who  ought 
to  make  your  monument."  "Is  he  ?  "  replied 
Nelson,  seizing  his  hand  with  his  usual  impulsive- 
ness, "  then  I  heartily  wish  he  may."  Which 
eventually  came  to  pass. 

He  soon  set  out  for  sea  again,  leaving  London 
for  Plymouth  early  on  the  morning  of  January  13th, 
with  his  brother  William.  From  Southampton, 
on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  he  addressed  one 
of  his  last  notes  to  his  wife,  saying  briefly  : 

"  My  dear  Fanny, 

"  We  are  arrived,   and  heartily  tired  ;     and 
151 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

with  kindest  regards  to  my  father  and  all  the 
family,  believe  me  your  affectionate 

"  NELSON." 

But  it  was  not  of  his  lawful  wife  that  he  was 
thinking  at  this  time,  but  of  that  other  woman 
whom  he  called  his  "  wife  in  the  sight  of  Heaven." 
His  pangs  in  leaving  her  were  redoubled,  for  he 
expected  that  she  was  soon  to  become  the  mother 
of  his  child.  "Anxiety  for  friends  left,"  he  wrote 
to  her  the  day  after  parting,  "  and  various  workings 
of  my  imagination,  gave  me  one  of  those  severe 
pains  of  the  heart  that  all  the  windows  were 
obliged  to  be  put  down,  the  carriage  stopped, 
and  the  perspiration  was  so  strong  that  I  never  was 
wetter,  and  yet  dead  with  cold."  Nelson's  frail 
body  was  always  wrung  by  the  intensity  of  his 
feelings.  He  told  Troubridge  on  one  occasion 
that  during  his  search  for  the  French  fleet  before 
the  battle  of  the  Nile  he  had  near  died  with  the 
swelling  of  some  of  the  vessels  of  the  heart.  "  Do 
not  fret  at  anything,"  was  his  advice,  which  he 
was  so  pathetically  unable  to  follow  himself ;  "  I 
wish  I  never  had." 

On  his  way  to  Plymouth  he  visited  Earl  St. 
Vincent  at  Tor  Abbey.  There  had  been  some 
friction  between  his  old  commander-m-chief  and 
himself  since  the  cordial  Mediterranean  days,  and 
in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty, 
Evan  Nepean,  Lord  St.  Vincent  speaks  somewhat 
scornfully  of  the  Hero  of  the  Nile  :  "  Nelson  was 
very  low  when  he  first  came  here,  the  day  before 

152 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

yesterday  ;  appeared  and  acted  as  if  he  had  done 
me  an  injury,  and  felt  apprehension  that  I  was 
acquainted  with  it.  Poor  man  !  he  is  devoured 
with  vanity,  weakness,  and  folly  ;  was  strung  with 
ribbons,  medals,  &c.  and  yet  pretended  that  he 
wished  to  avoid  the  honour  and  ceremonies  he 
everywhere  met  with  upon  the  road."  * 

At  Honiton,  during  this  journey  through  the 
West  of  England,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  a  Nelson 
familiar  and  dear  to  us.  In  passing  through  this 
Devonshire  lace-making  village  the  Admiral  did 
not  forget  that  it  was  the  birthplace  of  Captain 
Westcott,  one  of  his  band  of  brothers  who  fell 
gloriously  at  the  Nile.  Westcott  was  the  son  of 
a  baker,  and  Nelson  made  a  point  of  seeking  out 
the  family.  "  At  Honiton,"  he  wrote  to  Lady 
Hamilton,  "  I  visited  Captain  Westcott's  mother — 
poor  thing.  Except  from  the  bounty  of  the  coun- 
try and  Lloyds,  in  very  poor  circumstances.  The 
brother  is  a  tailor,  but  had  they  been  chimney 
sweeps  it  was  my  duty  to  show  them  respect." 
Nelson  slept  a  night  at  Honiton,  and  invited  the 
mother  and  sister  of  Captain  Westcott  to  breakfast 
with  him  next  morning  at  the  inn.  He  asked  old 
Mrs.  Westcott  if  she  had  received  the  gold  medal 
presented  by  Alexander  Davison  to  all  the  Nile 
captains,  and  which  should  have  come  to  her  on 
his  death.  On  her  saying  that  she  had  not  received 
it,  Nelson  immediately  took  off  his  own  medal, 

*  Thf  Naval  Mixctllany,  Vol.  II.  Edited  by  Sir  J.  Knox  Laughton, 
Navy  Records  Society. 

153 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

which  hung  round  his  neck  on  a  blue  ribbon,  and 
gave  it  to  her  with  the  words,  "  You  will  not  value 
it  less  because  Nelson  has  worn  it." 

While  at  Plymouth,  Nelson  called  upon  Trou- 
bridge's  sister,  who,  he  informed  Lady  Hamilton, 
with  that  crudity  which  sometimes  characterised 
him,  was  pock-marked  and  as  deaf  as  her  brother, 
so  there  was  no  cause  for  jealousy.  He  found  also, 
he  says  in  another  letter,  "  I  have  given  great 
offence  in  not  going  to  the  Long  Room  last  night ; 
but  my  promise  is  solemnly  made  not  to  go  to 
an  Assembly  till  a  Peace." 

On  the  21st  of  January  he  was  at  Exeter,  where 
he  was  presented  with  the  Freedom  of  the  city— 
by  this  time  he  had  a  large  collection  of  these 
trophies  called  Freedoms — and  in  reply  to  the 
Recorder's  complimentary  address  made  his  usual 
modest  little  speech  : 

"  Whatever  merit  may  have  been  attributed  to 
him  in  the  Action  of  the  Nile,  it  was  only  for 
having  executed  the  orders  entrusted  to  him ; 
that  those  orders  came  to  him  from  his  Commander- 
in-Chief,  who  had  received  them  from  the  Lords 
of  the  Admiralty.  They  were  very  concise :  it 
was  to  take,  burn,  sink,  and  destroy  the  French 
Fleet  wherever  he  should  meet  them,  and  he  had 
only  been  the  instrument  employed  to  effect  this 
service."  He  added  that  to  the  successful  war 
with  France  "  we  owed  the  blessings  we  now 
experienced,  in  the  enjoyment  of  our  liberties, 
laws,  and  religion  ;  and,  although  we  might  at 

154 


NELSON 

Fmm  a   (Herman  Stipple  Enc/ravirtfl  b>i   !•'..    Morare,   1799. 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

one  day  hope  to  be  at  peace  with  France,  we  must 
ever  be  at  war  with  French  principles." 

Nelson's  convictions  were  at  once  firm  and 
simple — his  cause  and  his  country  were  a  banner 
to  him,  and  he  was  most  deeply  convinced  that 
God  fought  on  his  side.  All  great  warriors  have 
had  this  faith  ;  it  is  one  cause  of  their  triumph  and 
is  the  strength  behind  their  sword.  Great  and 
inspired  seaman  as  he  was,  statesman  as  he  proved 
himself  in  many  tangled  international  affairs, 
Nelson  was  always  marked  by  this  simpleness  of 
heart  and  faith.  He  believed  that  the  cause  of 
his  country  was  Heaven's  cause,  and  that  most 
things  French  were  wicked,  as  naturally  as  the 
marine  in  his  flagship  who  wrote  home  to  his 
sister,  "  So  I  shall  leave  you  to  judge  how  your 
country  fights  for  the  religion  you  enjoy,  the  laws 
you  possess,  and  on  the  other  hand  how  Bouna- 
parte  has  trampt  them  causes  down  in  the  places 
he  has  had  concern  with." 

About  this  same  time  the  Corporation  of  Ply- 
mouth voted  Nelson  their  Freedom  in  a  silver  box, 
little  guessing,  good  pompous  people,  that  Nelson 
had  written  in  a  private  letter,  "  I  hate  Plymouth." 
But  he  had  some  reason  for  his  petulance,  quite 
apart  from  the  fact  that  he  was  inclined  to  hate 
any  place  where  he  could  not  be  with  his  beloved 
Emma,  for  while  at  Plymouth  he  suffered  from 
acute  ophthalmia  in  his  only  remaining  eye,  with 
much  pain  and  lack  of  sight.  To  Emma  he  wrote 
of  his  trouble :  "  My  eye  is  very  bad.  I  have 

155 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

had  the  Physician  of  the  Fleet  to  examine  it.  He 
has  directed  me  not  to  write  .  .  .  not  to  eat 
anything  but  the  most  simple  food ;  not  to  touch 
wine  or  porter ;  to  sit  in  a  dark  room  ;  to  have 
green  shades  for  my  eyes — (will  you,  my  dear 
friend,  make  me  one  or  two  ? — nobody  else  shall ;) 
— and  to  bathe  them  in  cold  water  every  hour. 
I  fear,  it  is  the  writing  has  brought  on  this  com- 
plaint." 

But  at  this  time  there  was  something  which 
distressed  and  shook  him  far  more  than  his  eyes, 
and  that  was  his  anxiety  for  Emma  Hamilton  in 
the  imminent  birth  of  their  child — that  child  he 
so  passionately  loved,  who  went  by  the  name  of 
Horatia  Nelson  Thompson.  Into  all  the  mysti- 
fications which  surrounded  her  birth  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  enter  here.  Her  actual  existence 
in  this  early  spring  of  1801  is  the  necessary  fact 
— that,  and  the  large  part  she  henceforth  held  in 
the  heart  of  Nelson.  His  situation,  separated  as 
he  was  both  by  distance  and  conventional  barriers 
from  the  mother  of  his  child,  was  a  cruel  one,  and 
in  no  ordinary  correspondence — affectionate  as 
were  his  general  letters  to  Lady  Hamilton — could 
he  obtain  relief  for  his  feelings  and  utterance  of 
all  his  ardent  and  anxious  heart.  So  the  "  Thomp- 
son "  fiction  was  invented — Thompson  supposed 
to  be  an  officer  in  Nelson's  flagship,  his  wife  on 
shore  under  Lady  Hamilton's  special  care  and 
protection.  Thus,  under  other  names,  they  were 
able  to  express  their  own  joys  and  fears,  though, 

156 


ENGLAND  ONCE  MORE 

as  might  be  expected  from  Nelson's  quick  and 
excitable  nature,  the  "  Thompson "  disguise  at 
times  wears  very  thin.  One  specimen  of  the 
letters  may  be  given — a  letter  in  which  he  wrote 
direct  in  his  own  name  and  person  to  the  "  Mrs. 
Thompson  "  who  was  really  Emma  : 

"  I  sit  down,  my  dear  Mrs.  T.  by  desire  of  poor 
Thompson,  to  write  you  a  line  :  not  to  assure  you 
of  his  eternal  love  and  affection  for  you  and  his 
dear  child,  but  only  to  say  that  he  is  well  and  as 
happy  as  he  can  be,  separated  from  all  which  he 
holds  dear  in  this  world.  He  has  no  thoughts 
separated  from  your  love  and  your  interest.  They 
are  united  with  his  ;  one  fate,  one  destiny,  he 
assures  me,  awaits  you  both.  What  can  I  say 
more  ?  Only  to  kiss  his  child  for  him  :  and  love 
him  as  truly,  sincerely,  and  faithfully  as  he  does 
you  ;  which  is  from  the  bottom  of  his  soul.  He 
desires  that  you  will  more  and  more  attach  yourself 
to  dear  Lady  Hamilton." 

Before  going  to  the  Baltic  to  win  the  second  of 
his  three  great  victories,  Nelson  demanded  and 
obtained  three  days'  leave  of  absence  to  go  to 
London  "  to  settle  some  very  important  matters 
for  myself."  The  principal  of  these  important 
matters  was  to  see  Emma  and,  in  secret,  his  little 
daughter,  who  had  been  put  out  to  nurse  with  a 
Mrs.  Gibson,  who  used  to  tell  how,  in  later  times, 
the  Admiral  "  often  came  alone,  and  played  for 
hours  with  the  infant  on  the  floor,  calling  her  his 
own  child." 

157 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

The  Hamiltons  were  at  their  new  house  in  Picca- 
dilly, which  Emma  had  furnished  handsomely  by 
the  sale  of  some  of  the  valuable  diamonds  pre- 
sented to  her  by  the  Sicilian  Court.  There  is  a 
document  in  existence  in  Nelson's  handwriting 
setting  forth  the  contents  of  the  house  and  their 
value. 

Records  of  this  short  visit  of  the  Admiral's  are 
found  in  Emma  Hamilton's  correspondence  with 
Mrs.  William  Nelson.  The  day  after  his  arrival 
she  writes,  "  Our  dear  Nelson  is  very  well  in  health. 
Poor  fellow,  he  travelled  allmost  all  night,  but  you 
that  know  his  great,  good  heart  will  not  be  surprised 
at  any  act  of  friendship  of  his"  While  she  was 
writing  this  letter  Nelson  had  gone  to  the  Ad- 
miralty to  see  Evan  Nepean,  but  was  coming  back 
to  dinner,  bringing  with  him  his  brother  Maurice 
and  Troubridge.  During  this  short  visit  Nelson 
stayed  at  Lothian's  Hotel,  but  spent  all  the  time 
he  was  not  at  the  Admiralty  at  the  Hamilton's 
house  in  Piccadilly.  The  following  morning  Emma 
again  writes,  "  Oh,  my  dearest  friend,  our  dear 
Lord  is  just  come  in.  He  goes  off  to-night  and 
sails  immediately.  My  heart  is  fit  to  Burst  quite 
with  greef." 

From  London,  after  this  brief  leave,  Nelson 
posted  to  Portsmouth,  and  from  there  sailed  in  his 
flagship  the  St.  George  to  Yarmouth.  From  Yar- 
mouth, after  a  few  days'  preparation,  he  sailed 
for  the  North  and  that  "  Battle  of  the  Baltic  " 
which  was  to  add  new  laurels  to  his  name. 

158 


CHAPTER  IX:  HOME  SHORES. 

WRITING   of   himself   at  this  time  the 
Admiral  had  declared,  "  Nelson  will  be 
first   if    he   lives,"    and    he    proved   it 
fully  at  the  battle  of  the  Baltic,  so  that  Lady 
Malmesbury's   comment  had  much  justification  : 
"  I  feel  very  sorry  for  Sir  Hyde,  but  no  wise  man 
would  ever  have  gone  with  Nelson,  or  over  him,  as 
he  was  sure  to  be  in  the  background  in  every  case." 

Nelson  was  kept  in  the  north  some  months  after 
the  battle,  though  the  cold  climate  was  very  trying 
to  his  delicate  frame,  so  long  used  to  Sicilian  suns  ; 
but  he  had  to  wait  till  his  successor  could  be 
appointed  and  sent  out.  To  find  such  a  successor 
was,  as  Earl  St.  Vincent  told  him,  no  easy  task, 
"  for  I  never  saw  the  man  in  our  profession, 
excepting  yourself  and  Troubridge,  who  possessed 
the  magic  art  of  infusing  the  same  spirit  into 
others  which  inspired  their  own  actions." 

When  at  last  Nelson  heard  that  he  could  return 
to  England,  he  wrote  to  Lady  Hamilton,  "  I  was 
so  overcome  yesterday  with  the  good  and  happy 
news  that  came  about  my  going  home,  that  I 
believe  I  was  in  truth  scarcely  myself.  The 
thoughts  of  going  do  me  good,  yet  all  night  I  was 
so  restless  that  I  could  not  sleep." 

159 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1801,  he  landed  at  Yarmouth 
and  his  characteristic  first  act  was  to  visit  the 
hospitals  to  cheer  the  Copenhagen  wounded.  A 
charming  little  account  of  this  visit  was  given  by 
a  young  doctor  who  was  present,  in  a  letter  to 
Sir  Walter  Scott :  "It  was  the  Naval  Hospital 
at  Yarmouth,  on  the  morning  when  Nelson,  after 
the  battle  of  Copenhagen  (having  sent  the  wounded 
before  him),  arrived  at  the  Roads,  and  landed  on 
the  jetty.  The  populace  soon  surrounded  him,  and 
the  military  were  drawn  up  in  the  market-place 
ready  to  receive  him  ;  but  making  his  way  through 
the  crowd  and  the  dust  and  the  clamour,  he  went 
straight  to  the  hospital.  I  went  round  the  wards 
with  him,  and  was  much  interested  in  observing 
his  demeanour  to  the  sailors  ;  he  stopped  at  every 
bed,  and  to  every  man  he  had  something  kind  and 
cheery  to  say.  At  length  he  stopped  opposite 
a  bed  on  which  a  sailor  was  lying,  who  had  lost 
his  right  arm  close  to  the  shoulder- joint,  and  the 
following  short  dialogue  passed  between  them. 

"  Nelson :  *  Well,  Jack,  what's  the  matter 
with  you  ?  ' 

"  Sailor  :    '  Lost  my  arm,  your  honour.' 

"  Nelson  paused,  looked  down  at  his  own  empty 
sleeve,  then  at  the  sailor,  and  said  playfully : 
'  Well,  Jack,  then  you  and  I  are  spoiled  for  fisher- 
men ;  cheer  up,  my  brave  fellow.'  And  he  passed 
briskly  on  to  the  next  bed ;  but  those  few  words 
had  a  magical  effect  on  the  poor  fellow,  for  I  saw 
his  eyes  sparkle  with  delight  as  Nelson  turned  away 

160 


HOME  SHORES 

and  pursued  his  course  through  the  wards.  As 
this  was  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  saw 
Nelson,  I  may,  perhaps,  overrate  the  value  of  the 
incident." 

After  this  kindly  and  consoling  visit  to  his 
wounded  seamen,  Nelson  went  on  to  London  and 
made  his  report  in  person  at  the  Admiralty.  For 
a  short  space  he  again  lodged  at  Lothian's  Hotel, 
but  soon  joined  the  Hamiltons  in  Piccadilly.  But 
London  in  July  was  hot  and  unrefreshing,  so  the 
whole  party  moved  to  more  rural  surroundings. 
Their  first  stopping-place  was  at  Box  Hill,  where 
they  put  up  at  the  picturesque  Burford  Bridge 
Hotel,  with  its  pretty  old  garden  lying  under  the 
slope  of  that  hill  from  whose  brow  such  wide- 
spreading  vistas  of  earth  and  sky  delight  the  vision. 
The  room  at  the  inn  traditionally  Nelson's  is  still 
shown — a  low,  rather  dark  little  room,  by  reason 
of  the  trees  outside,  looking  away  from  the  gardens 
and  towards  the  highway. 

The  next  pilgrimage  was  to  the  Thames  at 
Staines.  "  When  our  glorious  Nelson,"  wrote 
Emma  of  this  time,  "  came  home  ill  and  worn  out 
with  fatigue  after  the  glorious  Second  of  April, 
we  thought  it  right  to  let  him  change  the  air, 
and  often  we  therefore  went  for  three  or  four  days 
at  a  time  to  different  places ;  and  one  of  them 
was  at  the  Bush  at  Staines,  a  delightful  place, 
situated,  with  a  good  garden,  on  the  Thames.  .  .  . 
The  company  at  Staines  was  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Hamilton,  the  gallant  Nelson,  and  the 

161  M 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

brave  little  Parker,  who  after  lost  his  life  in  that 
bold  and  excellent  vigorous  attack  on  Boulogne." 

Lady  Hamilton  had  invited  the  old  Duke  of 
Queensberry  and  Lord  William  Gordon  to  join 
the  Staines  party,  and,  unable  to  do  so,  they 
forwarded  their  regrets  in  mediocre  verse,  which 
yet  shows  an  intimacy  with  the  foibles  of  the 
group.  Sir  William's  passion  for  fishing  is  satir- 
ised and  his  prosy  desire  to  tell  at  length  of  "  bites 
confirmed  and  doubtful  nibbles "  ;  so  is  the 
Reverend  William  Nelson's  anxiety  for  an  Arch- 
bishopric, and  his  love  of  "  good  eating  and  good 
liquor."  His  daughter  Charlotte  is  referred  to  as 
Baby,  "  with  her  cheeks  of  rose,  Her  teeth  of  ivory, 
and  eyes  of  sloes. ' '  But  of  Nelson — called  ' '  Henry' ' 
—and  Emma  the  rhymes  conclude— 

"  For  thee  and  Henry,  silent  are  our  lays  ; 
Thy  beauty  and  his  valour  mock  all  praise." 

From  Staines  Nelson  wrote  to  Lord  St.  Vincent 
on  the  12th  of  July,  "  I  was  so  unwell  with  the  pain 
in  my  stomach,  that  I  have  been  forced  to  get 
again  into  the  Country ;  and  therefore  have  been 
obliged  to  make  my  apologies  to  Lord  Hobart 
for  not  dining  with  him  on  Tuesday,  and  I  hope 
his  Lordship  will  forgive  me.  Large  dinners  truly 
alarm  me." 

Nelson  was  soon  taken  from  this  semi-rural 
idleness  by  the  call  of  his  country — national  needs 
and  dangers  demanded  his  services.  There  was 
sudden  fear  of  a  French  invasion :  a  somewhat 
idle  threat  of  Buonaparte's,  puzzled  how  to  strike 

162 


HOME  SHORES 

effectively  at  the  little  defiant  island  and  constantly 
baffled  by  the  workings  of  English  sea-power. 
Nelson  was  called  upon  to  take  command  of  the 
threatened  coast,  from  Beachy  Head  to  Orford 
Ness.  He  was  not  himself  greatly  concerned  about 
the  invasion  scare :  the  tested  seamen  of  that  date 
held  St.  Vincent's  sturdy  belief :  "  I  do  not  say 
the  French  can't  come,"  declared  that  Admiral, 
with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  "  I  only  say  they  can't 
come  by  sea."  However,  it  was  Nelson's  duty  and 
necessity  to  take  all  the  reasonable  precautions 
the  national  fears  demanded.  On  the  subject  of 
the  defence  of  the  Thames,  Nelson  wrote  a  valuable 
paper,  too  long  to  quote,  which  he  called  "  merely 
the  rude  ideas  of  the  moment,"  and  "  only  meant 
as  a  sea  plan  of  defence  for  the  City  of  London." 

During  this  coast  defence  Nelson  was  constantly 
at  or  off  the  east  coast  ports  of  Sheerness,  Deal, 
and  Harwich.  He  was  involved  in  service  which 
was  not  exactly  naval  and  not  very  congenial  to 
him.  He  describes  his  doings  to  Lord  St.  Vincent 
in  a  letter  from  Deal,  dated  July  30th  :  "  As  I 
had  arranged  everything  possible  for  me  to  do  at 
Sheerness,  I  thought  it  best  to  set  off  for  the  Downs 
by  the  way  of  Faversham,  as  I  wished  to  see  Captain 
Becker  on  the  subject  of  the  Sea-Fencibles.  I  had 
previously  sent  Captain  Shepard  to  desire  that  a 
Mr.  Salisbury  would  meet  me  ;  as  he  was  a  person 
of  respectability,  rich  (got  it  by  the  fair  trade), 
and  of  great  influence  amongst  the  Seafaring  men 
on  that  part  of  the  coast,  particularly  about 

163 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Whitstable.  I  made  him  sensible  of  the  necessity 
of  our  Ships,  which  were  to  be  stationed  off  the 
Sand-heads,  being  manned.  He  thought  if  the 
Admiralty,  through  me,  gave  the  men  assurances 
that  they  should  be  returned  to  their  homes,  when 
the  danger  of  the  Invasion  was  passed,  that  the 
Sea-folk  would  go  ;  but  that  they  were  always 
afraid  of  some  trick  :  this  service,  my  dear  Lord, 
above  all  others,  would  be  terrible  for  me  :  to  get 
up  and  harangue  like  a  Recruiting  Serjeant !  I  do 
not  think  I  could  get  through  it ;  but  as  I  am 
come  forth,  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  do  this  disagree- 
able service  as  well  as  any  other,  if  judged  neces- 
sary. I  hoisted  my  Flag  here  this  morning." 

A  week  later  he  wrote  again  to  St.  Vincent  on 
the  matter  of  the  Sea-Fencibles,  taking  those  of 
Margate  as  his  text :  "  The  Sea-Fencibles  of  Mar- 
gate, for  instance,  consist  of  118  men,  their  occu- 
pation is  pier-men  belonging  to  the  Margate  hoys, 
and  some  few  who  assist  ships  up  and  down  the 
River.  These  men  say,  "  our  employment  will 
not  allow  us  to  go  from  our  homes  beyond  a  day 
or  two,  and  for  actual  service  :  '  but  they  profess 
their  readiness  to  fly  on  board,  or  on  any  other 
duty  ordered,  when  the  Enemy  are  announced  as 
actually  coming  on  the  sea.  This,  my  dear  Lord, 
we  must  take  for  granted  is  the  situation  of  all 
other  Sea-Fencibles :  when  we  cannot  do  all  we 
wish,  we  must  do  as  well  as  we  can." 

A  little  picture  of  Nelson's  energy  and  ability 
is  given  in  a  letter  written  by  Captain  Edward 

164 


HOME  SHORES 

Parker — that  young  officer  to  whom  the  Admiral 
was  so  deeply  attached,  and  who  was  with  him  in 
this  service — to  Lady  Hamilton  : 

'*  He  is,  thank  God,  extremely  well  and  in  good 
health.  We  got  down  to  Sheerness  very  quick 
and  well,  and  were  received  by  the  acclamations 
of  the  people,  who  looked  with  wild  but  affectionate 
amazement  at  him  who  was  once  more  going  to 
step  forward  in  defence  of  his  country.  He  is  the 
cleverest  and  the  quickest  man  and  the  most 
zealous  in  the  world.  In  the  short  time  we  were 
at  Sheerness  he  regulated  and  gave  orders  for  30 
of  the  ships  under  his  command,  made  every  one 
pleased,  filled  them  with  emulation,  and  set  them 
on  the  qui  vive.  How,  what  I  feel  when  I  reflect 
how  warmly  I  am  attached  to  so  great  and  noble 
a  patron  !  But  I  fear  I  am  a  little  envied." 

In  the  midst  of  these  anxieties  he  proved  him- 
self, as  always,  susceptible  to  a  kind  word  from  a 
friend,  especially  if  it  was  an  old  Norfolk  friend 
like  the  Reverend  Henry  Crowe  of  Burnham,  to 
whom  he  wrote  at  this  time  :  "I  felt  such  pleasure 
in  being  remembered  by  an  old  Burnham  friend, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  describe  what  thoughts 
rushed  into  my  mind.  The  remembrance  of  you 
from  my  very  childhood,  of  your  many  acts  of 
civilities  and  kindnesses  to  me  and  to  my  dear 
father,  will  always  make  it  pleasant  to  me  to  attend 
to  any  recommendation  of  yours."  He  begs,  with 
another  Norfolk  friend  in  mind,  that  Mr.  Crowe 
will  present  his  * '  very  kindest  respects  to  good  Sir 

165 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Mordaunt " — it  will  be  remembered  that  Sir 
Mordaunt  Martin  led  the  celebrations  in  Nelson's 
native  village  of  the  victory  of  the  Nile. 

The  letter  next  in  date  is  marked  "  off  Harwich," 
and  so  are  several  others ;  while  in  a  letter  to  Lady 
Hamilton,  from  Sheerness,  Nelson  wrote :  "  I  came 
from  Harwich  yesterday  noon ;  not  having  set 
my  foot  on  shore,  although  the  Volunteers,  &c. 
were  drawn  up  to  receive  me,  and  the  people 
ready  to  draw  the  carriage."  Now  this  statement 
as  to  not  having  set  foot  on  shore  is  somewhat 
damaging  to  the  claim  of  that  interesting  old  inn 
at  Harwich,  the  Three  Cups,  to  be  the  place  where 
Nelson  always  stayed  when  at  or  off  Harwich. 
It  is  true  that  Nelson  was  on  the  east  coast  from 
July  to  October  of  1801,  and  that  his  letters  do  not 
always  bear  the  place  as  well  as  the  date,  therefore 
he  may  have  been  at  Harwich  at  some  time  later 
than  his  statement  to  Lady  Hamilton.  The 
tradition  that  he  stayed  at  the  Three  Cups  is  at 
least  worth  something,  even  if  it  cannot  definitely 
be  proved,  and  adds  interest  to  the  quaint  low 
room  with  its  uneven  floor,  great  beams,  and  dark 
walls  panelled  to  the  low  ceiling,  that  Nelson  is 
said  to  have  used. 

On  August  llth  the  Admiral  wrote  to  Lady 
Hamilton  saying  that  as  far  as  the  middle  of 
September,  he  was  at  the  Admiralty's  disposal, 
"  but,  if  Mr.  Buonaparte  does  not  choose  to  send 
his  miscreants  before  that  time,  my  health  will  not 
bear  me  through  equinoctial  gales."  He  told 

166 


XELSOX.    HY    SIR    WILLIAM!     BEECHEY. 

From  an   Kiujravhtij  hi/  Edinird  Bell  after  the  Painting  in 
St.   Ai/drt'ti-'s   flail,   Nonrich. 


HOME  SHORES 

St.  Vincent,  "  I  require  nursing  like  a  child  " — 
and  well  he  knew  the  nurse  he  needed.  He 
wished  that  Sir  William  and  Emma  would  come 
to  either  Deal,  Dover,  or  Margate,  "  for,  thus  cut 
off  from  the  society  of  my  dearest  friends,  'tis  but 
a  life  of  sorrow  and  sadness."  The  petulance  of 
his  ill-health  breaks  out :  "  The  Mayor  and  Cor- 
poration of  Sandwich,  when  they  came  on  board 
to  present  me  the  Freedom  of  that  ancient  Town, 
requested  me  to  dine  with  them.  I  put  them  off 
for  the  moment,  but  they  would  not  be  let  off. 
Therefore,  this  business,  dreadful  to  me,  stands 
over,  and  I  shall  be  attacked  again  when  I  get  to 
the  Downs.  But  I  will  not  dine  there,  without 
you  say,  approve  ;  nor,  perhaps,  then,  if  I  can  get 
off.  Oh  !  how  I  hate  to  be  stared  at !  " 

Then  a  few  days  later  came  the  attack  on  the 
French  flotilla  at  Boulogne — the  unsuccessful  and 
disastrous  attack,  in  which  the  life  was  lost,  after 
long  suffering,  of  one  so  dear  to  Nelson  as  Captain 
Edward  Parker— the  "dear  Parker,"  "little 
Parker,"  about  whom  he  wrote  such  piteous 
letters  at  this  time,  letters  which  could  not  have 
been  more  piteous  and  more  poignant  had  his  own 
son  lain  dying  before  his  eyes ;  indeed,  it  was  of 
Parker  that  he  said,  "  He  is  my  child,  for  I  found 
him  in  distress."  All  the  time  that  could  be  spared 
from  his  public  duties  Nelson  passed  at  Parker's 
bedside  in  the  hospital  at  Deal.  Parker  lingered 
for  over  a  month,  but  there  were  other  wounded 
in  the  attack  on  the  Flotilla,  and  on  the  18th  of 

167 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

August,  three  days  after  the  engagement,  he  wrote  : 
"  I  have  this  morning  been  attending  the  Funeral 
of  two  young  Mids  :  a  Mr.  Gore,  cousin  of  Captain 
Gore,  and  a  Mr.  Bristow.  One  nineteen,  the 
other  seventeen  years  of  age.  Last  night,  I  was 
all  the  evening  in  the  Hospital,  seeing  that  all  was 
done  for  the  comfort  of  the  poor  fellows." 

The  simple  unconscious  words  bring  Nelson 
before  us  on  that  merciful  errand,  where  the 
tenderness  of  his  nature  would  have  full  scope, 
for  he,  like  the  "  Happy  Warrior  "  which  was  so 
largely  a  study  of  his  character,  though 

"  doomed  to  go  in  company  with  Pain, 

And  Fear,  and  Bloodshed,  miserable  twain  ! 

Turns  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain  ; 

In  face  of  these  doth  exercise  a  power 

Which  is  our  human  nature's  highest  dower." 
We  see  him  with  his  worn,  sensitive  face  and 
spare  frame,  moving  between  the  narrow  beds, 
and  how  his  look  and  word  would  brighten  even 
the  face  of  pain.  All  that  he  had  suffered  himself 
and  seen  others  suffer  had  not  hardened  him,  only 
made  him 

"  more  able  to  endure 

As  more  exposed  to  suffering  and  distress ; 
Thence,  also,  more  alive  to  tenderness." 

The  Naval  Chronicle  says  of  the  funeral  of  these 
midshipmen  :  "  Lord  Nelson  followed  their  bodies 
to  the  ground  with  eight  Captains  of  the  Navy, 
preceded  by  a  file  of  Marines,  who  fired  three 
vollies  over  the  place  of  their  interment ;  an 

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HOME  SHORES 

immense  crowd  of  spectators  were  present  to  wit- 
ness this  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  two  gallant  young  Officers,  who  were  an  orna- 
ment to  that  Profession  in  which  they  so  nobly 
fell.  His  Lordship  was  sensibly  affected  during 
the  funeral,  and  was  seen  to  shed  tears." 

At  the  beginning  of  September  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Hamilton  paid  their  promised  visit  to  the 
Admiral,  which,  as  he  said,  "  enlivens  Deal." 
But  even  Emma's  presence  could  not  distract  his 
thoughts  from  poor  Captain  Parker.  "  Parker 
suffers  very  much  to-day,"  he  writes  at  this  time, 
"  and  I  am  very  low."  For  a  while,  serious  as 
were  his  injuries,  Parker  rallied,  but  it  was  only 
temporary,  and  on  the  20th  of  September  Nelson 
wrote  to  Alexander  Davison  :  "  You  will  join  with 
me  in  affliction  for  the  fate  of  dear  good  little 
Parker.  Yesterday,  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  I 
was  with  him,  so  was  Lady  Hamilton,  Sir  William 
and  Mrs.  Nelson ;  he  was  so  well  that  I  was  for 
the  first  moment  sanguine  in  my  hopes  of  his 
recovery  ;  at  10  o'clock  the  great  artery  burst, 
and  he  is  now  at  death's  door,  if  not  departed  this 
life.  You  will  judge  our  feelings  ;  and,  to  mend 
all,  Lady  Hamilton  with  her  party  went  to  London 
this  morning." 

The  next  day  the  patient  had  rallied.  "  He  has 
taken  new  milk  and  jellies,"  wrote  poor  Nelson 
eagerly ;  "  there  is  a  gleam  of  hope,  and  I  own  I 
embrace  it  with  avidity."  He  wrote  frequently 
to  the  surgeon,  Dr.  Baird,  attending  Parker,  saying 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

in  one  of  these  notes,  "  With  your  nursing  I  have 
great  hopes  ;  and,  let  what  will  happen,  great 
consolation  from  your  abilities  and  affectionate 
disposition."  To  Parker's  sister,  on  the  news 
continuing  good,  he  wrote : 

"  Lord  Nelson  from  his  heart  congratulates 
Miss  Parker  on  the  happy  prospect  of  her  dear 
brother's  recovery.  Captain  Parker  will  be,  he 
hopes,  for  life,  the  dear  son  and  friend  of 

"NELSON  AND  BRONTE." 

And  then,  two  days  later,  Parker  died.  Hearing 
the  sad  news,  Nelson  wrote  to  Dr.  Baird : 

"  Although  the  contents  of  your  letter  were  not 
unexpected,  yet  I  am  sure  you  will  judge  of  my 
feelings — I  feel  all  has  been  done  which  was 
possible  :  God's  will  be  done.  I  beg  that  his  hair 
may  be  cut  off  and  given  to  me ;  it  shall  remain 
and  be  buried  with  me."  When  the  hair  was  cut 
off  and  given  to  him  as  he  desired,  Nelson  sent  it 
in  a  little  box  to  Lady  Hamilton,  saying  he  valued 
it  more  than  if  Parker  had  left  him  "  a  bulse  of 
diamonds,"  and  begging  her  to  "  keep  some  for 
poor  Nelson."  To  Alexander  Davison  he  wrote 
that  he  was  told  Parker's  death  was  a  happy 
release,  "  but  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  say  I  am 
glad  he  is  gone  ;  it  would  be  a  lie,  for  I  am  grieved 
almost  to  death."  To  Earl  St.  Vincent,  who  knew 
the  merits  of  the  young  officer  thus  early  cut  off 
in  his  career,  Nelson  expressed  his  grief :  "  All 
will  agree,  none  fell  more  nobly  than  dear  Parker  ; 

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HOME  SHORES 

and  none  ever  resigned  their  life  into  the  hands  of 
their  Creator  with  more  resignation  to  the  Divine 
Will  than  our  Parker.  ...  I  fear  his  loss  has 
made  a  wound  in  my  heart  which  time  will  scarcely 
heal." 

As  a  sign  of  his  appreciation  of  Dr.  Baird's 
services,  he  presented  him  with  what  he  called  a 
"  little  remembrance  of  your  goodness  to  a  set  of 
brave  men,"  which  took  the  form  of  a  silver  vase, 
bearing  the  inscription : 

"  Presented  to  Andrew  Baird,  Esq.,  M.D.,  as  a 
mark  of  esteem  for  his  humane  attention  to  the 
gallant  Officers  and  Men  who  were  wounded  off 
Boulogne  on  the  16th  of  August,  1801.  From 
their  Commander-in-Chief,  Lord  Viscount  Nelson, 
Duke  of  Bronte." 

He  ordered  that  Parker's  funeral  should  be 
carried  out  with  all  the  honours  possible.  The 
coffin  was  carried  by  six  captains,  while  Nelson 
himself  was  the  chief  mourner,  accompanied  by 
Admiral  Lutwidge  and  Lord  George  Cavendish, 
and  followed  by  a  large  number  of  officers  of  both 
Services.  Captain  Parker  was  buried  at  Deal, 
where  he  died,  in  St.  George's  churchyard.  There 
is  a  tree  in  that  churchyard  against  which  Nelson 
is  said  to  have  leaned,  with  tears  rolling  down  his 
face,  as  the  solemn  and  beautiful  words  of  the 
Burial  Service  were  said  over  the  open  grave.  As 
the  Admiralty  refused  to  be  responsible  for  Parker's 
funeral  and  the  expenses  incurred  during  his  illness, 
Nelson  generously  and  characteristically  took  the 

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NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

burden  on  his  own  shoulders.  He  also  erected  a 
monument  over  his  grave  which  cost  fifty  pounds. 
As  the  words  on  this  monument  were  without 
doubt  chosen  and  sanctioned  by  Nelson,  they  are 
of  special  interest.  The  monument  in  shape  is 
a  cube  engraved  on  two  sides,  and  on  the  top — the 
inscription  is  difficult  to  read,  owing  to  the  moisture 
from  the  trees  and  the  growth  of  moss,  but  the 
top  of  the  tomb  sets  forth  his  name  and  the  date 
of  his  death.  The  east  side  says  that  "  This  stone  " 
is  the  "  record  of  a  Hero's  fame  " — 
"  Whose  youth  and  valour  glowed  with  virtues 

A  Nation  bows  with  tears. 

The  flower  of  valour  withered  with  its  bloom." 

The  slight  clumsiness  of  the  sentences  suggests 
that  they  are  Nelson's  own  composition.  On  the 
south  side  it  gives  the  date  of  his  wounding,  and 
concludes,  "  Terminated  his  career  of  glory  27 
Sept.  1801." 

The  Naval  Chronicle  says  of  this  gallant  young 
man,  who  was  only  twenty-two  when  he  died — so 
unfortunate  in  his  untimely  ending,  so  fortunate 
in  the  love  Nelson  had  for  him  : 

"  His  merits  must  have  been  large  to  have  been 
raised  to  the  rank  of  Master  and  Commander  when 
scarcely  21  years  of  age,  to  have  been  distinguished 
so  young  in  the  annals  of  England  in  its  most 
illustrious  era,  and  above  all  to  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  posterity  as  the  good  and  gallant  friend 
and  able  assistant  of  the  greatest  of  our  Naval 
Heroes." 

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HOME  SHORES 

For  several  months  after  Parker's  death  Nelson 
sealed  his  letters  with  black  wax. 

While  Nelson  was  in  the  Downs  there  was 
another  great  Englishman  at  Walmer  Castle,  and 
naturally  those  two  met ;  indeed,  tradition  says 
that  the  Admiral  dined  and  slept  at  the  Castle 
more  than  once,  which  seems  not  improbable, 
though  there  is  no  actual  proof,  and  Nelson  had 
an  invincible  objection  at  this  time  to  sleeping,  or 
even  dining,  out  of  his  ship  if  he  could  avoid  it. 
However,  in  a  letter  of  October  12th,  to  his 
"  Dearest  Friend,"  Lady  Hamilton,  there  is  this 
reference  to  Pitt :  '  This  being  a  very  fine  morn- 
ing, and  smooth  beach,  at  eight  o'clock,  I  went 
with  Sutton  and  Bedford,  and  landed  at  Walmer, 
but  found  Billy  fast  asleep,  so  left  my  card  ; 
walked  the  same  road  that  we  came,  when  the 
carriage  could  not  come  with  us  that  night ;  and 
all  rushed  into  my  mind,  and  brought  tears  into 
my  eyes.  Ah,  how  different  to  walking  with 
such  a  friend  as  you,  Sir  William,  and  Mrs.  Nelson." 

In  a  later  letter  he  mentions  that  some  of  his 
officers  are  dining  with  "  Billy  Pitt,"  and  that  Pitt 
has  "  asked  me  to  come  and  see  him  :  and  that  I 
shall  do,  out  of  respect  to  a  great  man,  although 
he  never  did  anything  for  me  or  my  relations." 

At  Walmer  Castle  the  room  is  shown  that  Nelson 
is  said  to  have  used  as  a  bed  or  dressing-room 
when  he  visited  Pitt.  It  is  a  room  nearly  opposite 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's,  and  is  known  as  the 
Blue  Room.  A  mahogany  tall-boy  chest  of  drawers 

173 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

stands  against  one  wall,  the  brass  drop-handles 
of  which  all  have  the  inscription  "  Sacred  to 
Nelson."  Also  there  is  a  canopied  bedstead  in 
which  the  Admiral  is  said  to  have  slept,  though 
we  look  hi  vain  in  the  "  Letters  and  Dispatches  " 
for  any  reference  of  Nelson's  own  to  having  done  so. 

The  little  room  where  Pitt  and  Nelson  are 
supposed  to  have  conferred  is  now  part  of  the 
drawing-room,  into  which  it  was  thrown  in  later 
years.  But  in  Pitt's  day  it  had  a  separate  entrance, 
and  was  not  much  more  than  a  cupboard,  without 
a  window,  where,  by  candle-light,  national  affairs 
could  be  secretly  considered. 

The  pleasant,  broad  fortress  of  Walmer  Castle, 
with  its  oasis  of  gardens  and  trees  on  a  shingly 
shore,  with  its  long  curving  passages  and  curious- 
shaped  rooms,  must  have  been  an  agreeable  change 
to  Nelson  if  he  ever  did  sleep  there,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  companionship  of  the  keen  mind  and  deeply 
patriotic  heart  of  William  Pitt. 

A  somewhat  curious  landmark  at  Deal,  which 
must  have  been  familiar  to  the  Admiral,  as  it  was 
built  in  1800  as  a  semaphore  station,  is  the  Time 
Ball  House,  still  existing. 

But  by  October  Nelson  was  getting  very  sick 
of  Deal — very  fretted  and  angry  at  being  kept  by 
an  unsympathetic  Admiralty  so  needlessly  long  at 
his  cold  and  trying  post,  when  he  was  miserably 
out  of  health.  Duty  and  danger,  which  were 
always  so  stimulating  to  his  spirit  that  he  forgot 
the  weaknesses  of  his  body,  were  withdrawn  from 

174 


HOME  SHORES 

him  by  the  signature  of  the  preliminaries  to  the 
Peace  of  Amiens.  The  invasion  danger  was  over 
for  the  time  ;  there  was  no  need  that  Nelson  should 
continue  to  suffer  from  cold  and  sea-sickness, 
tossing  in  his  flagship  in  the  Downs.  "  Only 
two  days  more,"  he  wrote  to  Lady  Hamilton  on 
the  20th  of  October,  "  the  Admiralty  could,  with 
any  conscience,  keep  me  here  ;  not  that  I  think 
they  have  any  conscience."  He  says  he  would 
have  "  got  well  long  ago  in  a  warm  room,  with 
a  good  fire,  and  sincere  friends."  In  a  character- 
istic sentence,  "  I  am  literally  starving  with  cold  ; 
but  my  heart  is  warm." 

His  release  came  immediately  after  this,  and  he 
set  off  at  once  from  the  bleak  airs  of  the  Downs 
to  the  good  fire  that  was  to  burn  on  his  own  hearth 
at  Merton. 

But  we  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  that  these 
three  months  from  July  to  October  of  1801  were 
the  only  time  in  his  career  that  Nelson  was  called 
upon  to  defend  his  country  on  her  very  shores— 
where,  in  full  view  of  the  people  he  defended,  as 
it  were,  he  was  sailing  the  "  ruffled  strip  of  salt  " 
instead  of  distant  seas.  The  frontiers  of  England 
are  the  enemy's  coasts,  but  for  once  those  frontiers 
drew  closer  than  was  common  in  the  Great  War ; 
in  consequence  we  have  our  Admiral  fighting  and 
watching  at  home  instead  of  in  the  Mediterranean. 
A  large  part  of  this  time  his  flagship  was  in  sight 
of  land  ;  he  dined  and  sometimes  slept — though 
his  sleepings  are  occasionally  like  those  of  Queen 

175 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Elizabeth,  frequent  and  not  authentic  ! — at  the 
homely  inns  of  the  east  coast  ports  and  fishing 
towns.  He  landed  on  the  beaches  and  addressed 
and  inspected  those  somewhat  awkward  and 
refractory  heroes,  the  Sea-Fencibles.  It  is  war  in 
its  more  humble  and  homespun  guise,  at  the  back 
of  which  we  can  hear  the  English  mothers  stilling 
their  children  with  the  terrors  of  "  Boney's " 
name.  It  is  war,  moreover,  in  which  Nelson  met 
with  his  second  and  last  reverse.  Boulogne  and 
Teneriffe  !  How  dim  their  names  are  in  remem- 
brance, how  eclipsed  by  all  the  triumphs  !  The 
homeliness  of  the  time  is  maintained  in  the  quaint 
story  of  the  old  seaman  at  Greenwich  Hospital, 
who,  reading  the  account  of  the  attack  on  the 
Boulogne  Flotilla,  signed  "  Nelson  and  Bronte," 
asked  another  ancient  mariner  if  he  knew  "  who 
this  Bronte  is  that  Nelson  has  got  hold  on  ?  " 
"  No,  I  don't,"  was  the  reply.  "  All  I  can  say  is 
that  I  think  he's  a  damned  fool,  begging  his  pardon, 
for  taking  a  partner  :  for,  depend  upon  it,  nobody 
will  ever  do  so  well  as  Nelson  himself.' 


176 


CHAPTER  X:    "PARADISE  MERTON." 

THE  time  had  at  last  come  when  Nelson  was 
to  realise  his  life-long  dream — the  constant 
theme  of  his  letters  and  his  longings — a 
home  that  was  his  own.  The  "  neat  cottage " 
had  necessarily  expanded  into  something  more 
befitting  the  position  and  dignities  his  valour  had 
won  him.  It  is  true  he  had  earlier  purchased 
another  home,  Roundwood,  near  Ipswich,  but  he 
had  only  purchased,  not  lived  in  it  before  his 
departure  for  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Nile, 
and  when  he  returned  to  England  the  estrangement 
between  him  and  Lady  Nelson  was  so  nearly 
complete  that  Roundwood  was  no  home  to  him. 

In  truth,  he  had  only  two  homes  on  English  soil 
—his  father's  simple  Parsonage  House  at  Burnham 
Thorpe  where  he  was  born  and  which  he  always 
loved,  and  that  last  cherished  abode  of  his  at 
Merton  Place  in  Surrey,  which  was  so  much  to  him, 
though  his  to  enjoy  for  so  short  a  time.  At  Merton 
his  heart  lived  in  his  last  sacrifice  at  sea  ;  from 
Merton  he  set  forth  to  his  last  battle  and  his  last 
triumph. 

The  first  allusion  to  Merton  in  Nelson's  corres- 
pondence is  in  a  letter  to  Alexander  Davison  from 
Deal,  dated  August  31st,  1801.  "I  am  after 

177  N 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

buying  a  little  Farm  at  Merton,"  he  says,  "  the 
price  £9000 ;  I  hope  to  be  able  to  get  through  it. 
If  I  cannot,  after  all  my  labour  for  the  Country, 
get  such  a  place  as  this,  I  am  resolved  to  give  it 
all  up,  and  retire  for  life."  Davison,  with  his 
usual  generosity,  offered  to  help  the  Admiral  in 
this  purchase,  and  in  thanking  him  for  this  offer 
Nelson  confessed  it  would  take  every  farthing  he 
had  in  the  world,  his  debts,  he  said,  had  been  so 
great :  "  The  Baltic  expedition  cost  me  full 
£2000.  Since  I  left  London  it  has  cost  me,  for 
Nelson  cannot  be  like  others,  near  £1000  in  six 
weeks.  If  I  am  continued  here,  ruin  to  my  finances 
must  be  the  consequence,  for  everybody  knows 
that  Lord  Nelson  is  amazingly  rich  !  " 

The  real  trouble  was  that  everybody  knew  that 
Lord  Nelson  was  amazingly  generous. 

Owing  to  professional  duties  and  what  he  frankly 
regarded  as  Admiralty  meanness,  Nelson  was 
unable  to  look  for  the  home  he  wanted  himself— 
"  As  Troubridge  and  the  Earl  are  so  cruel  as  to 
object  to  my  coming  to  London  to  manage  my  own 
affairs "  —so  he  had  to  delegate  the  choice  to 
another,  and  naturally  it  was  in  Lady  Hamilton's 
hands  he  placed  the  affair  on  which  his  hopes 
were  set.  It  was  to  be  his  home  and  hers :  she 
should  choose  and  furnish  it,  for  any  choice  that 
pleased  her  would  be  good  to  him.  He  had 
apparently  abandoned  Norfolk  as  a  region  of 
residence ;  distance,  for  one  thing,  was  against  it. 
Instead,  he  wanted  a  place  about  ten  miles  from 

178 


"  PARADISE  MERTON ' 

London.  A  house  at  Turnham  Green  was  first 
considered,  and  Nelson  urged  its  purchase,  so 
eager  was  he  for  a  home,  for,  as  he  said,  "It  is 
very  extraordinary,  but  true,  that  the  man  who 
is  pushed  forward  to  defend  his  country  has  not 
in  that  country  a  place  to  lay  his  head  in." 

Merton  Place  and  the  "  little  Farm  "  attached 
did  not  actually  cost  Nelson  so  much  as  he  had 
estimated  to  Davison,  for  in  the  general  depression 
of  property  before  the  preliminaries  to  the  Peace 
of  Amiens  were  known,  it  was  purchased  for  about 
six  thousand  pounds.  The  whole  affair  was  left 
to  Lady  Hamilton's  management,  both  the  choice 
of  the  place  and  its  furnishing  :  "  How  often  have 
I  said  laughing,"  wrote  Nelson  to  her  "  that  I 
would  give  you  £500  to  furnish  a  house  for  me ; 
you  promised  me,  and  now  I  claim  it.  I  trust  to 
your  own  dear  good  heart  for  the  fulfilment  of  it." 
He  hoped  "  the  farm  "  would  make  her  happier 
than  "  a  dull  London  life.  Make  what  use  you 
please  of  it.  It  is  as  much  yours  as  if  you  bought 
it." 

It  may  be  imagined  with  what  hearty  joy  and 
enthusiasm  Emma  Hamilton  would  throw  herself 
into  this  business,  so  delightful  to  her.  The 
purchasing  of  furniture,  carpets,  curtains,  orna- 
ments, the  lavish  expenditure  of  money,  the 
thought  that  she  was  doing  it  all  for  the  "  glorious 
Nelson,"  the  exercise  of  her  considerable  capacity 
for  "  affairs,"  and  the  woman's  innate  feeling  for 
home-making — all  would  appeal  to  her  and  rouse 

179 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

her  to  great  efforts.  And  it  was  not  only  in  the 
house  she  worked  and  planned  ;  the  farm  came 
under  her  supervision ;  she  bought  fowls  and  pigs, 
stocked  the  little  stream — to  be  known  as  the 
"  Nile  "  —with  fish  and  procured  a  boat  for  it. 
A  picture  of  her  activities  is  given  to  Nelson  by 
Sir  William  Hamilton,  who  seems  to  have  been 
a  calm  and  amused  spectator  of  all  these 
doings  : 

"  I  have  lived  with  our  dear  Emma  several 
years,  I  know  her  merit,  have  a  great  opinion  of 
the  head  and  heart  God  Almighty  has  been  pleased 
to  give  her,  but  a  seaman  alone  could  have  given 
a  fine  woman  full  power  to  choose  and  fit  up  a 
residence  for  him,  without  seeing  it  himself.  You 
are  in  luck,  for  on  my  conscience,  I  verily  believe 
that  a  place  so  suitable  to  your  views  could  not 
have  been  found  and  at  so  cheap  a  rate.  For,  if 
you  stay  away  three  days  longer,  I  do  not  think 
you  can  have  any  wish  but  you  will  find  it  com- 
pleated  here.  .  .  .  The  proximity  to  the  Capital 
and  the  perfect  retirement  of  this  place  are  for 
your  Lordship  two  points  beyond  estimation ; 
but  the  house  is  so  comfortable,  the  furniture 
clean  and  good,  and  I  never  saw  so  many  con- 
veniences united  in  so  small  a  compass.  You  have 
nothing  but  to  come  and  to  enjoy  immediately. 
You  have  a  good  mile  of  pleasant  dry  walk  around 
your  farm.  It  would  make  you  laugh  to  see 
Emma  and  her  mother  fitting  up  pigstyes  and  hen- 
coops, and  already  the  canal  is  enlivened  with 

180 


£  «• 

a * 

«  -g 

ta  -1 


"  PARADISE  MERTON  " 

ducks,  and  the  cock  is  strutting  with  his  hen  about 
the  walks." 

All  these  details  rejoiced  Nelson's  heart  while 
he  was  fretting  in  the  Downs.  He  loved  every  pig 
and  fowl  about  the  place,  and  said  he  would  get 
a  book  on  farming.  The  farm  creatures  were  to 
have  happy  lives.  "  I  expect,  that  all  animals 
will  increase  where  you  are,"  Nelson  wrote  to 
Emma  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  for  I  never  expect 
that  you  will  suffer  any  to  be  killed."  He  told 
her,  "  I  assure  you,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  had 
rather  read  and  hear  all  your  little  story  of  a  white 
hen  getting  into  a  tree,  an  anecdote  of  Fatima, 
or  hear  you  call —  '  Cupidy  !  Cupidy  !  '  than  any 
speech  I  shall  hear  in  parliament."  She  was,  he 
said,  to  be  "  Lady  Paramount  of  all  the  territories 
and  waters  of  Merton."  He  is  quite  sure  that  she 
has  "  as  fine  a  taste  in  laying  out  the  land,"  as 
she  had  in  music.  Everything  she  did  was  efficient 
and  good  in  his  eyes. 

Before  he  had  himself  seen  Merton  he  began 
gathering  up  his  possessions  to  send  there,  and 
there  is  something  feminine  and  touching  about 
the  details  :  "I  send  by  the  coach  a  little  parcel 
containing  the  keys  of  the  plate-chest  and  the  case 
of  the  tea-urn,  and  there  is  a  case  of  Colebrook 
Dale  breakfast  set  and  some  other  things."  "  I 
have  sent  in  the  parcel  by  the  coach  this  day, 
two  salt-cellars  and  two  ladles,  which  will  make 
four  of  each,  as  two  are  in  the  chest.  You  will 
also  find  spoons  and  forks  sufficient  for  the  present. 

181 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

If  sheets  are  wanting  for  the  beds,  will  you  order 
some  and  let  me  have  the  bill  ?  " 

Then  at  last  the  great  day  came  when  he  was 
free  to  go  to  Merton,  to  behold  for  the  first  time 
the  home  which  had  been  planned  and  arranged 
and  beautified  for  him  by  the  woman  he  loved ; 
where  he  and  she  and  her  elderly  husband  were 
to  live  under  one  roof  again,  as  they  had  lived 
at  Palermo.  The  figure  of  Sir  William  Hamilton, 
though  so  much  in  the  background  in  the  Merton 
chronicles,  was  useful,  as  it  gave  the  curious 
household — to  which  was  added  later  the  infantile 
Horatia — the  necessary  veneer  of  propriety.  Nel- 
son, who  had  so  defied  them  abroad,  seems  at  this 
time  to  have  clung  to  all  those  ideals  which  had 
been  taught  him  at  Burnham  Thorpe,  and  with 
that  curious  pathetic  blindness  of  humanity  he 
resolutely  shut  his  eyes  to  certain  aspects  of  his 
love  for  another  man's  wife.  "  Have  we  a  nice 
church  at  Merton  ?  "  he  asked  Emma,  "  We  will 
set  an  example  of  goodness  to  the  under  parish- 
oners."  At  this  "  nice  church  "  a  plain  oak  seat 
without  a  back  is  preserved,  being  the  seat  he 
preferred  to  the  shut-in  pews.  He  longed  for 
retirement  and  domestic  peace :  "  No  person 
there  can  take  amiss  our  not  visiting.  The  answer 
from  me  will  always  be  very  civil  thanks,  but 
that  I  wish  to  live  retired.  We  shall  have  our  sea 
friends ;  and  I  know  Sir  William  thinks  they  are 
the  best." 

These  officers  themselves  had  pleasant  antici- 

182 


'  PARADISE  MERTON  " 

pations  of  Merton  visits :  Hardy  declared  he  had 
not  lost  his  appetite,  and  Captain  Gore  and  Captain 
Sutton  looked  forward  to  the  luxury  of  brown  bread 
and  butter  after  sea  fare. 

But  before  either  Nelson  or  his  officers  had  en- 
joyed the  comforts  of  Merton,  the  Admiral's  father 
wrote  him  the  following  letter  from  Burnham  : 

"  As  a  public  character  I  could  be  acquainted 
only  with  what  was  made  public  respecting  you. 
Now  in  a  private  station  possibly  you  may  tell 
me  where  it  is  likely  your  general  place  of  residence 
may  be,  so  that  sometimes  we  may  have  mutual 
happiness  in  each  other.  .  .  .  Most  likely  the 
winter  may  be  too  cold  for  me  to  continue  here, 
and  I  mean  to  spend  it  between  Bath  and  London. 
If  Lady  Nelson  is  in  a  hired  house  and  by  herself, 
gratitude  requires  that  I  should  sometimes  be 
with  her,  if  it  is  likely  to  be  of  any  comfort  to  her. 
Everywhere  age  and  my  many  infirmities  are 
very  troublesome,  and  require  every  mark  of 
respect.  At  present  I  am  in  the  Parsonage  ;  it 
is  warm  and  comfortable.  I  am  quite  by  myself, 
except  the  gentleman  who  takes  care  of  the 
churches.  He  is  a  worthy,  sensible,  sober  man, 
and,  as  far  as  rests  with  him,  makes  me  very 
happy.  I  cannot  do  any  public  duty,  nor  even 
walk  to  the  next  house.  But,  my  dearest  son, 
here  is  still  room  enough  to  give  you  a  warm  and 
a  joyful  and  affectionate  reception,  if  you  could 
find  an  inclination  to  look  once  more  at  me  in 
Burnham  Parsonage." 

183 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Nelson  made  some  memorandum  for  reply  to 
this  letter,  in  which  he  said :  "I  am  thinking  of 
writing  my  poor  old  father  to  this  effect :  that  I 
shall  live  at  Merton  with  Sir  W.  and  Lady  Hamil- 
ton ;  that  a  warm  room  for  him  and  a  cheerful 
society  will  always  be  happy  to  receive  him  ;  that 
nothing  in  my  conduct  could  ever  cause  a  separa- 
tion of  a  moment  between  me  and  him,  for  that 
I  had  all  the  respect  and  love  which  a  son  could 
bear  towards  a  good  father ;  that  going  to  Burn- 
ham  was  impossible." 

To  Lady  Hamilton  he  wrote  that  if  his  father 
remained  at  Burnham  he  would  die,  that  he  was 
sure  he  could  not  stay  at  Somerset  Street  with 
Lady  Nelson,  so  "  Pray  let  him  come  to  your  care 
at  Merton.  Your  kindness  will  keep  him  alive." 

To  Merton  he  himself  came  for  the  first  time  on 
October  22nd,  1801,  driving  down  from  London 
in  a  postchaise.  He  was  received  with  a  triumphal 
arch  and  with  illuminations  of  the  suburban  village, 
that  in  those  days  was  so  pretty  and  green  and 
rustic,  with  its  flowery  hedgerows  and  old  houses, 
its  inn  and  comfortable  Georgian  mansions.  Mer- 
ton Place  itself,  now  vanished  and  built  over,  was 
a  plain,  spacious  structure,  two  stories  high,  witli 
a  curious  flat  roof  and  tall  windows — not  beautiful, 
belonging  to  none  of  the  gracious  architectural 
styles,  built  of  stucco,  to  all  appearance,  but 
surrounded  by  pleasant  well-wooded  grounds  and 
adorned  with  a  stream,  a  branch  of  the  Wandle. 
There  had  been  statues  about  the  grounds  when 

184 


"  PARADISE  MERTON  ' 

Merton  was  bought,  but  these  had  been  removed, 
as  Nelson  disapproved  of  them — whether  for 
puritanic  or  artistic  reasons  is  not  stated  !  Ap- 
parently it  was  all  that  Nelson  wished  and  hoped 
for,  and  there  he  spent  some  of  his  happiest  and 
most  completely  satisfied  days  in  England.  Till 
his  death,  exactly  four  years  after  his  entering 
its  portals,  whatever  seas  he  sailed,  whatever 
ports  he  sojourned  at,  his  heart  and  his  thoughts 
were  always  at  Merton. 

Nelson's  first  visitor  was  his  aged  father,  who 
evidently  met  with  the  warm  welcome  and  warm 
room  which  had  been  promised.  From  Bath,  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  visit,  he  wrote  to  his  "  Dear 
Horatio  "  :  "  The  affectionate  and  kind  manner 
in  which  you  received  and  entertained  me  at 
Merton  must  have  excited  all  those  parental  feel- 
ings which  none  but  fond  parents  know ;  and 
having  seen  you  safe  through  the  perils  which 
infancy,  childhood,  and  even  early  years  of  man- 
hood are  exposed  to,  how  must  I  rejoice  to  see  so 
few  impediments  to  as  much  felicity  as  falls  to 
the  share  of  mortals.  What  you  possess,  my  good 
son,  take  care  of ;  what  you  may  still  want, 
consult  your  own  good  sense  in  which  way  it  can 
be  attained.  Strive  for  honours  and  riches  that 
will  not  fade,  but  will  profit  in  good  time  of  need. 
Excuse  my  anxiety  for  what  I  esteem  your  real 
good." 

A  few  days  later,  hearing  that  Nelson  was  buying 
a  little  more  land,  his  father  wrote  again :  "  The 

185 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

little  addition  you  are  likely  to  make  to  your  landed 
property  will,  I  hope,  bring  some  further  pleasure 
and  domestic  comfort,  such  as  the  real  comfort 
of  a  private  and  independent  life  must  consist  of, 
and  every  event  which  you  are  so  good  as  to  com- 
municate to  me,  which  is  likely  to  increase  your 
happiness,  adds  a  prop  to  my  declining  life,  and 
the  little  incidents,  even  of  a  difference,  which 
Lady  Hamilton  politely  communicates  to  me 
are  at  all  times  very  acceptable."  Thus  this 
serene  and  good  old  man  pursued  his  quiet  way. 
Other  of  his  letters  show  that  he  was  distressed  by 
Nelson's  open  affection  for  Lady  Hamilton  and 
complete  severance  from  his  wife.  But  he  ever 
believed  the  best  of  everyone,  and  such  was  his 
charity  and  wisdom  that  he  judged  no  one.  To 
the  day  of  his  death  he  kept  up  affectionate 
relations  with  his  son  and  with  his  neglected  wife. 
Soon  after  his  settling  down  at  Merton,  Nelson 
was  drawn  from  the  domestic  privacy  he  so  longed 
for  to  the  duties  and  ceremonies  inseparable  from 
his  rank.  He  took  his  seat  as  a  Viscount  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  being  introduced  by  Viscount  Hood 
and  Viscount  Sydney.  The  day  after  he  seconded 
Earl  St.  Vincent  in  proposing  that  the  "  Thanks 
of  this  House  be  given  to  Rear- Admiral  Sir  James 
Saumarez,  K.B.,  for  his  gallant  and  distinguished 
conduct  in  the  Action  with  the  Combined  Fleet 
of  the  Enemy,  off  Algeziras."  Nelson  was  roused 
to  generous  eloquence  in  praising  the  exploits  and 
courage  of  his  brother  in  arms.  After  this  speech, 

186 


1  PARADISE  MERTON ' 

he  wrote  to  Captain  Sutton,  "  You  will  see  my 
maiden  speech — bad  enough,   but  well  meant— 
anything  better  than  ingratitude.     I  may  be  a 
coward,  and  good  for  nothing,  but  never  ungrateful 
for  favours  done  me." 

On  the  3rd  of  November  Nelson  spoke  again 
in  the  debate  on  the  Preliminaries  of  Peace, 
agreeing  with  the  opinion  of  Lord  St.  Vincent  that 
the  terms  were  both  honourable  and  advantageous 
to  England. 

At  this  time,  whenever  he  came  up  to  London, 
either  to  speak  in  the  House  or  for  any  other 
purpose,  he  always  returned  to  Merton  each 
evening — it  being,  he  said,  exactly  one  hour's 
drive  from  Hyde  Park  or  the  Bridge. 

To  Captain  Sutton  he  wrote  again  on  the  12th 
of  November — on  which  day  he  spoke  in  the  House 
of  Lords  in  support  of  a  Vote  of  Thanks  to  Lord 
Keith — telling  him  of  some  of  his  experiences : 

"  Yesterday  was  a  fagging  day :  150  dined 
at  the  London  Tavern,  and  I,  being  the  Cock  of 
the  Company,  was  obliged  to  drink  more  than  I 
liked  ;  but  we  got  home  to  supper ;  and  a  good 
breakfast  at  eight  this  morning  has  put  all  to 
rights  again.  This  day  comes  on  the  great  Nor- 
thern question.  Lords  Spencer  and  Grenville, 
and  all  that  party,  are  to  be  violent :  Tierney 
and  Grey  are  bought,  which  shows  that  all  the 
disinterestedness  of  man  is  only  like  the  Fox  and 
the  grapes — sour  when  they  cannot  be  got  at.  ... 
I  am  glad  the  French  Gun-boats  are  dished ;  for, 

187 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

although  it  is  Peace,  I  wish  all  Frenchmen  at 
the  devil.  I  have  wrote  about  your  kind  letter 
to  the  Admiralty.  I  wrote  to  good  Bedford  yester- 
day ;  but  yesterday  was  a  busy  day,  between 
gardening,  attending  the  House,  and  eating, 
drinking,  and  hurraing." 

Then,  a  few  days  later,  came  Nelson's  magni- 
ficent letter  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  dated 
November  20,  1801,  on  the  subject  of  the  Battle 
of  Copenhagen.  The  City  had  voted  its  thanks 
to  Lord  Keith  and  the  Army  and  Navy  for  the 
campaign  in  Egypt — it  had  withheld  those  thanks 
for  the  Baltic.  Nelson  was  roused  to  protest : 
"  From  my  own  experience,"  he  wrote,  "  I  have 
never  seen,  that  the  smallest  services  rendered  by 
either  Navy  or  Army  to  the  Country,  have  missed 
being  always  noticed  by  the  great  City  of  London, 
with  one  exception — I  mean,  my  Lord,  the  glorious 
Second  of  April — a  day  when  the  greatest  dangers 
of  navigation  were  overcome,  and  the  Danish 
Force,  which  they  thought  impregnable,  totally 
taken  or  destroyed  by  the  consummate  skill  of 
the  Commanders,  and  by  the  undaunted  bravery 
of  as  gallant  a  Band  as  ever  defended  the  rights 
of  this  Country. 

'  For  myself,  I  can  assure  you,  that  if  I  were 
only  personally  concerned,  I  should  bear  the 
stigma,  now  first  attempted  to  be  placed  upon  my 
brow,  with  humility.  But,  my  Lord,  I  am  the 
natural  guardian  of  the  characters  of  the  Officers 
of  the  Navy,  Army,  and  Marines,  who  fought,  and 

188 


'  PARADISE  MERTON  ' 

so  profusely  bled,  under  my  command  on  that  day. 
In  no  Sea-action  this  war  has  so  much  British 
blood  flowed  for  their  King  and  Country.  Again, 
my  Lord,  I  beg  leave  to  disclaim  for  myself 
more  merit  than  naturally  falls  to  the  share  of  a 
successful  Commander ;  but  when  I  am  called 
upon  to  speak  of  the  merits  of  the  Captains  of 
His  Majesty's  Ships,  and  of  the  Officers  and  Men, 
whether  Seamen,  Marines,  or  Soldiers,  I  that  day 
had  the  happiness  to  command,  then  I  say,  that 
never  was  the  glory  of  this  Country  upheld  with 
more  determined  bravery  than  upon  that  occasion  ; 
and,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  give  an  opinion  as  a 
Briton,  then  I  say,  that  more  important  service 
was  never  rendered  to  our  King  and  Country." 

Nelson  also  wrote  to  Lord  St.  Vincent,  hoping 
that  he  would  approve  his  letter  to  the  Lord  Mayor, 
for  your  "  expanded  mind  must  see  the  necessity 
of  my  stepping  forth,  or  I  should  ill  deserve  to 
be  so  supported  on  any  future  occasion."  But 
it  appears  that  St.  Vincent's  "  expanded  mind  >! 
did  not  see  the  necessity,  judging  from  his  formal 
answer.  Nelson  was  greatly  grieved  at  this  for- 
mality and  the  Lord  Mayor's  on  a  matter  so  near 
his  heart,  and  declared  passionately  that  he  would 
never  wear  his  other  medals  till  that  for  Copen- 
hagen was  given,  and  would  never  dine  with  the 
Lord  Mayor  in  his  public  capacity  till  the  thanks 
of  the  City  were  granted. 

In  spite  of  Nelson's  efforts  and  generous  anger, 
the  medals  for  Copenhagen  were  never  given ; 

189 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

quibbles  as  to  lapse  of  time  and  hurting  the  feelings 
of  the  Danish  people  being  the  inadequate  reasons 
for  its  withholding.  Nelson  flung  himself  against 
official  barriers,  protested  and  besought  in  vain — 
"  I  am  truly  made  ill,"  as  he  said,  by  the  coldness 
in  high  quarters. 

But  these  bitternesses  and  disappointments 
were  temporarily  forgotten  in  the  Christmas 
festivities  at  Merton,  which  were  sure,  under 
Lady  Hamilton's  care,  to  be  of  a  lavish  order. 
The  Reverend  William  Nelson  and  his  wife  were 
staying  at  Merton  at  the  close  of  the  year,  re- 
joining their  "  jewel "  of  a  daughter,  Charlotte. 
Large  parties,  extravagant  hospitality,  were  the 
rule,  though  Nelson  had  declared  that  it  was 
"  retirement  with  my  friends,  that  I  wish  for." 
But  "  retirement  "  was  not  to  Emma's  taste  at 
all ;  friends,  lights,  gaiety,  profusion,  was  her 
natural  setting,  and  she  was  happily  convinced 
that  what  suited  her  must  suit  Nelson.  She 
wrote  to  Mrs.  William  Nelson  of  the  Admiral : 
"  He  has  been  very,  very  happy  since  he  arrived, 
and  Charlotte  has  been  very  attentive  to  him. 
Indeed  we  all  make  it  our  constant  business  to 
make  him  happy.  Sir  William  is  fonder  than 
ever,  and  we  manage  very  well  in  regard  to  our 
establishment,  pay  share  and  share  alike,  so  it 
comes  easy  to  booth  partys.  .  .  .  We  were  all 
at  church,  and  Charlotte  turned  over  the  prayers 
for  her  uncle.  .  .  .  Sir  William  and  Charlotte 
caught  3  large  pike.  She  helps  him  and  milord 

190 


PLAN  FOR   THE  ALTERATIONS   AT    MERTON  PLACE. 

/«  jwsxesxioti  af  Admiral  Sir   \Vilmot  Fairkex. 


'  PARADISE  MERTON  ' 

with  their  great  coats  on  ;  so  now  I  have  nothing 
to  do." 

With  his  warm  family  feelings,  it  was  always  a 
pleasure  to  Nelson  to  entertain  his  nephews  and 
nieces,  his  brothers  and  sisters  and  their  spouses. 
Simple,  affectionate,  family  intercourse  was  what 
he  always  cared  for,  little  as  he  could  have  liked 
the  large  and  miscellaneous  crowd  of  singers, 
theatrical  people,  poets,  and  strangers  that  Emma 
delighted  in  gathering  under  his  roof.  Sir  William 
Hamilton  was  roused  to  protest ;  the  bills  and 
expenses  grew  enormous.  In  the  Morrison  MS. 
are  the  Merton  accounts,  and  the  sums  set  down 
are  very  large.  For  one  week  in  October  in  1802 
we  find  £7  paid  to  "  Mr.  Haines,  Poulterer," 
£4  19s.  &d.  to  "  Mr.  S  tin  ton,  Grocer,"  and  the  same 
sum,  less  a  few  shillings,  to  "Mr.  Coleman,  Fish- 
monger." "  Mr.  Perry,  Pastry  Cook,"  is  paid 
£10  10s.  9d.,  while  "Mr.  Greenfield,  Butcher  at 
Merton,"  gets  £8  12s.  lOJd.,  and  "Mr.  Stone, 
Brandy  Merchant,"  £13  Is.  Od.  It  is  true  this 
is  an  exceptionally  heavy  week,  but  nevertheless 
it  is  a  distinctly  ironic  comment  on  Nelson's 
earlier  statement  to  Emma,  "  You  will  make  us 
rich  with  your  economies." 

The  simple,  old-world  father  of  the  Admiral 
must  have  been  a  little  bewildered  by  the 
lavishness  of  his  son's  home,  but  in  a  letter  he 
wrote  to  Lady  Hamilton  in  January,  1802,  after 
his  visit,  we  see  him  still  going  his  serene,  un- 
shaken way — gentle,  kindly,  tolerant,  thinking  no 

191 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

evil,  content  to  accept  and  believe  only  what  was 
good : 

"  Madam,"  he  writes,  "  Your  polite  congratu- 
lations upon  the  entrance  of  a  New  Year,  I  return 
seven-fold  to  you,  and  the  whole  of  the  party 
now  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Merton  Place. 
Time  is  a  sacred  deposit  committed  to  our  trust ; 
and,  hereafter,  we  must  account  for  the  use  we 
have  made  of  it.  To  me,  a  large  portion  of  this 
treasure  has  already  been  granted,  even  seventy- 
nine  years.  The  complaint  my  dear  son  has  felt 
is,  I  know,  very,  very  painful :  and  can  be  re- 
moved, only,  with  much  care  and  caution ;  not 
venturing,  without  a  thick  covering,  both  head 
and  feet,  even  to  admire  your  parterres  of  snow- 
drops, which  now  appear  in  all  their  splendour. 
The  white  robe  which  January  wears,  bespangled 
with  ice,  is  handsome  to  look  at ;  but  we  must 
not  approach  too  near  her.  I  shall  be  very  glad 
to  know  the  Lord  of  Merton  is  recovered.  I  am, 
Madam,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"EDM.  NELSON." 

The  indisposition  from  which  the  Admiral  was 
suffering  is  probably  the  "  swelled  face "  with 
which  he  says  he  has  been  laid  up  in  one  of  his 
January  letters. 

It  had  been  Nelson's  wish  and  hope  that  his 
father  should  spend  the  remainder  of  his  years 
at  Merton — Burnham  winters  he  was  convinced 
would  kill  him,  and  at  Bath  he  was  only  a  tem- 

192 


4  PARADISE  MERTON ' 

porary  visitor.  But  before  these  plans  could  be 
matured,  and  while  he  was  still  at  Bath,  the  gentle 
life  of  the  Reverend  Edmund  Nelson  came  to  its 
quiet  close,  in  April,  1802.  His  favourite  son 
"  Horace,"  England's  Admiral  and  always  his 
dear  child,  was  not  with  him  when  he  died.  There 
was  some  little  warning  of  the  end,  but  not  suffi- 
cient for  him  to  get  to  Bath.  Nelson  himself  was 
unwell,  and  not  only  unable  to  go  to  Bath  to  take 
farewell  of  his  father,  but  apparently  too  ill  to 
journey  into  Norfolk  to  attend  the  funeral  at 
Burnham  Thorpe.  The  family  were  naturally 
more  or  less  prepared  for  and  resigned  to  the 
event,  for  the  Rector  was  full  of  years,  but  for 
once,  in  Nelson's  letters  about  his  father's  death, 
there  seems  something  a  little  inadequate.  He 
wrote  to  Mr.  Matcham  about  the  funeral  arrange- 
ments at  Burnham,  saying  it  was  his  wish  that 
his  father  should  be  buried  from  the  Parsonage 
House  "  with  all  that  respect  and  attention  be- 
coming His  Excellent  Life  and  the  Worthy  and 
Beneficent  Pastor  of  His  Parish  for  45  years.  No 
proper  expense  shall  be  wanting  and  beyond 
that  is  not  necessary."  He  was  not  quite  decided 
whether  he  would  attempt  to  go  to  Burnham,  as 
"  my  state  of  health  and  what  my  feelings  would 
naturally  be  might  be  of  serious  consequence  to 
myself." 

The  Rev.  William  Nelson  was  at  Burnham,  and 
superintended  the  funeral  arrangements.  For  once 
in  his  life  he  seems  to  display  more  feeling  than 

193  o 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

his  brother.  "  He  has  lived  to  a  good  old  age," 
he  wrote  of  his  father,  "  and  we  must  be  thankful 
we  had  him  so  long ;  he  has  scarce  left  his  fellow 
behind  him."  On  the  12th  of  May  he  wrote  to 
the  Admiral :  "  We  performed  the  last  sad  offices 
to  ye  remains  of  our  dear  and  highly  esteemed 
Father  yesterday,  amidst  ye  greatest  number 
of  people  ever  assembled  here.  I  don't  know  any 
proper  people  were  left  out.  I  never  saw  a  funeral 
conducted  with  greater  regularity,  silence,  and 
respect."  There  were  six  bearers,  and  all  the 
farmers  in  both  parishes  of  Burnham  Thorpe  and 
Burnham  Westgate  attended.  The  Reverend 
Edmund  Nelson  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of 
Burnham  Thorpe  church,  where  he  had  ministered 
and  preached  for  nearly  half  a  century,  by  the  side 
of  his  wife.  It  was  thirty-four  years  since  she  had 
left  him,  to  take  upon  his  shoulders,  as  he  had 
long  ago  remarked,  "  the  cares  and  responsibilities 
of  double  Parent."  But  those  cares  and  res- 
ponsibilities were  all  ended  and  he  returned  at 
last  to  the  wife  from  whom  he  had  been  parted. 
On  the  wall  of  the  chancel,  above  his  grave,  his 
children  erected  a  marble  monument,  mounted  on 
slate,  bearing  the  inscription : 

To  THE  MEMORY  OF 

THE  REVEREND  EDMUND  NELSON,  A.M. 

RECTOR  OF  THIS  PARISH  FORTY-SIX  YEARS 

FATHER  OF 

HORATIO  FIRST  VISCOUNT  NELSON 

OF  THE  NILE 

194 


THE    REV.   EDMUND    XELSOX. 
Front  an  A(iualint  in  the  possession  of  Admiral  Sir  \Vilmut  I-^nrke 


"  PARADISE  MERTON ' 

DUKE  OF  BRONTE 
WHO  DIED  APRIL  THE  25ra  1802 

AGED  76  YEARS. 

THIS  MONUMENT,  THE  LAST  MARK  OF  FILIAL  DUTY 
AND  AFFECTION,  WAS  ERECTED  BY  HIS  SURVIVING 

CHILDREN. 

Above  the  inscription  is  an  urn  bearing  the  Nelson 
arms  and  the  motto,  "  Palmam  qui  meruit  ferat." 

Thus  quietly  Nelson's  father  was  laid  to  his  rest 
in  the  remote  Norfolk  village.  Little  thought 
the  mourners  that  the  next  Nelson  to  be  buried 
would  have  a  nation  attending  at  his  obsequies, 
instead  of  merely  the  "  Farmers  in  both  Parishes." 

In  a  letter  written  from  Burnham  at  this  time, 
the  Reverend  William  Nelson  said :  "I  can't  say 
but  ye  sight  of  the  Place  brings  many  pleasant 
things  to  remembrance,  but  then  that  is  alloyed 
by  ye  reflection  of  what  I  am  here  for,  and  perhaps 
for  the  last  time — at  least  for  the  last  time  one 
can  call  it  Home" 

So  it  was — that  is  the  end  of  Burnham  Thorpe 
in  Nelson's  intimate  history.  His  father  was 
buried  there ;  the  old  Parsonage  House,  where  he 
had  been  born  and  grown,  was  pulled  down  by 
the  succeeding  Rector,  and  though  the  Admiral 
is  said  to  have  once  more  visited  the  neighbourhood 
before  his  own  death,  virtually  the  place  knew 
him  no  more,  save  as  a  distant  and  wonderful 
name  that  had  somehow  sprung  from  the  quietness 
of  Burnham  fields. 


195 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

But  a  little  over  three  years  of  life  remained  to 
Nelson,  and  during  those  short  years  his  heart's 
home  was  always  Merton — his  allegiance  had 
swayed  from  Norfolk  to  Surrey.  In  the  spring  of 
1802  he  wrote  from  Merton,  "  where  I  have  made 
a  very  small  purchase,  and  live  retired,  although 
we  live  so  near  London  ;  for  I  hate  the  noise, 
bustle,  and  falsity  of  what  is  called  the  great 
world." 

There  was  much  of  his  good  father's  simplicity 
and  love  of  a  quiet  life  in  Nelson,  though  it  had 
been  largely  overlaid  by  all  the  dazzling  circum- 
stances of  his  triumphs.  But  with  the  temporary 
Peace — "  I  am  the  friend  of  Peace  without  fearing 
War,"  he  wrote  at  this  time — and  the  possession 
of  a  home  of  his  own,  his  really  home-loving  tastes 
appear.  The  home  and  the  family,  quiet  gather- 
ings, gossip  of  friends  and  relations,  little  details 
of  house  and  farm,  walks,  small  expeditions — these 
were  the  things  he  rejoiced  in  after  his  storm- 
tossed  life.  Merton  was  the  haven  of  his  heart. 

But  even  at  Merton  we  have  a  stray  glimpse 
of  Nelson  in  that  irritable  mood  which  occasionally 
overtook  him.  When,  after  the  Peace  of  Amiens, 
Lieutenant  Parsons  found  himself  stranded  on 
half  pay  with  no  chance  of  promotion,  he  went 
down  to  Merton  hoping  for  powerful  aid.  But 
he  found  the  Admiral  in  no  humour  to  help,  for 
once,  and  declaring  that  he  was  "  pestered  to  death 
by  young  gentlemen,  his  former  shipmates." 
This  was  disappointing,  but  wise  Tom  Allen, 

196 


"  PARADISE  MERTON ' 

Nelson's  old  sailor-servant,  "  went  in  search  of  an 
able  auxiliary,  who  entered  the  study,  in  the 
most  pleasing  shape — that  of  a  lovely  and  graceful 
woman  ;  and,  with  her  usual  fascinating  and  play- 
ful manner,  declared,  *  His  Lordship  must  serve 
me.'  His  countenance,  which,  until  now,  had  been 
a  thundercloud,  brightened ;  and  Lady  Hamilton 
was  the  sun  that  lightened  our  hemisphere.  She, 
with  that  ready  wit  possessed  by  the  fair  sex 
alone,  set  aside  his  scruples  of  asking  a  favour  of 
the  first  Admiralty  Lord,  by  dictating  a  strong 
certificate,  which,  under  her  direction,  he  wrote, 
*  Now,  my  young  friend,'  said  her  ladyship,  with 
that  irresistible  smile  which  gave  such  expression 
of  sweetness  to  her  lovely  countenance,  *  obey  my 
directions  minutely  ;  send  this  to  Lord  St.  Vincent 
at  Brentwood,  so  as  to  reach  him  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing.' My  commission  as  an  officer  was  dated 
the  same  day  as  the  aforesaid  certificate."  Thus 
the  susceptible  lieutenant,  who  had  known  Lady 
Hamilton  at  Palermo,  tells  his  little  tale. 

Nelson's  generosity  to  his  relations  was  unfailing. 
To  his  sister  Mrs.  Bolton  he  wrote :  "  Here  is 
£100,  which  I  shall  pay  you  on  the  llth  June, 
for  three  years,  towards  the  education  of  your 
children ;  by  that  time,  other  things  may  turn 
up,  and  this  is  a  trifle  in  case  you  may  want  any 
little  thing  going  through  London.  All  I  desire 
is,  that  you  would  not  say  or  write  me  a  syllable 
on  the  subject,  for  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  do  more." 

Of  course,  with  his  mind,  his  passionate  interest 

197 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

in  national  affairs,  and  his  prominence  in  the  public 
eye,  Nelson's  "  retirement  "  could  be  only  partial. 
The  admiration  and  affection  in  which  he  was 
held  is  shown  by  the  requests  that  reached  him  for 
his  portrait.  To  one  of  these  letters  he  replied  : 
"  There  are  so  many  prints  of  Me  that  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  say  which  is  most  like  the  original, 
for  no  one  of  them  is  like  the  other,  but  I  rather 
think  a  little  outline  of  the  head  sold  at  Bryston's 
that  it  is  the  most  like  Me." 

The  "  little  outline  "  to  which  he  refers  is  that 
drawn  by  De  Koster  from  life  on  the  8th  of 
December,  1800,  soon  after  he  first  returned  to 
England.  It  shows  the  left  profile,  and  emphasises 
the  characteristic  traits  of  Nelson's  countenance — 
the  large  and  sensitive  nose,  the  deep-set  eye  with 
its  unhappy,  visionary  look,  the  drooping  mouth 
that  yet  has  something  grim  about  it :  the  strange, 
familiar  face. 

At  this  time  the  City  of  London  wished  to  thank 
Nelson  formally  for  his  services  the  previous  year 
in  guarding  the  coast  against  the  threat  of  French 
invasion.  Nelson  would  have  none  of  the  City's 
thanks,  remembering  the  Baltic  omission  : 

"  This  Battle,  my  Lord,"  he  wrote  to  the  Lord 
Mayor,  "  had  not  the  honour  of  being  approved 
in  the  way  which  the  City  of  London  has  usually 
marked  their  approbation :  therefore,  I  entreat 
that  you  will  use  your  influence  that  no  Vote  of 
approbation  may  ever  be  given  to  me  for  any  ser- 
vices since  the  2nd  of  April,  1801  ;  for  I  should 

198 


"PARADISE  MERTON" 

feel  much  mortified  when  I  reflected  on  the  noble 
support  I  that  day  received,  at  any  honour  which 
could  separate  me  from  them." 

His  feelings  on  this  matter  were  strong  and 
persistent.  A  little  later  he  wrote  to  Alexander 
Davison  :  "  I  remember,  a  few  years  back,  on 
my  noticing  to  a  Lord  Mayor,  that  if  the  City  con- 
tinued its  generosity,  we  should  ruin  them  by  their 
gifts,  his  Lordship  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder 
and  said — aye,  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  said — 
'  Do  you  find  Victories,  and  we  will  find  rewards.' 
I  have  since  that  time  found  two  complete  Victories. 
I  have  kept  my  word,  and  shall  I  have  the  power 
of  saying  that  the  City  of  London,  which  exists 
by  Victories  at  Sea,  has  not  kept  its  promise — a 
promise  made  by  a  Lord  Mayor  in  his  robes,  and 
almost  in  the  Royal  presence  ?  " 

How  many  aspects  Nelson  presents  to  us  in  his 
manifold  character — the  hero,  the  inspired  leader, 
the  generous  and  unfailing  champion  of  those  who 
had  fought  with  him,  the  quiet  country  gentleman 
walking  about  his  estate,  the  faithful  friend  and 
helper,  the  passionate  lover  and  breaker  of  mar- 
riage vows,  and  lastly,  the  man  who  was  a  child 
hi  the  hands  of  a  clever  woman.  This  is  the 
aspect  that  so  painfully  impressed  Lord  Minto 
when  he  visited  Merton. 

"  The  whole  establishment  and  way  of  life," 
he  wrote,  "  is  such  as  to  make  me  angry  as  well  as 
melancholy ;  but  I  cannot  alter  it.  I  do  not 
think  myself  obliged  or  at  liberty  to  quarrel  with 

199 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

him  for  his  weakness,  though  nothing  shall  ever 
induce  me  to  give  the  smallest  countenance  to 
Lady  Hamilton.  .  .  .  She  goes  on  cramming  Nel- 
son with  trowelfuls  of  flattery,  which  he  goes  on 
taking  as  quietly  as  a  child  does  pap.  The  love 
she  makes  to  him  is  not  only  ridiculous,  but 
disgusting.  Not  only  the  rooms,  but  the  whole 
house,  staircase  and  all,  are  covered  with  nothing 
but  pictures  of  her  and  him,  of  all  sizes  and  sorts, 
and  representations  of  his  naval  actions,  coats 
of  arms,  pieces  of  plate  in  his  honour,  the  flagstaff 
of  IS  Orient,  etc.,  an  excess  of  vanity  which  counter- 
acts its  purpose.  If  it  was  Lady  H.'s  house,  there 
might  be  a  pretence  for  it.  To  make  his  own 
a  mere  looking-glass  to  view  himself  all  day  is 
bad  taste." 

Perhaps,  in  making  these  severe  remarks,  Lord 
Minto  did  not  know  that  practically  Merton  was 
Lady  Hamilton's  house — that  she  had  chosen  it 
and  furnished  it,  that  she  had  made  it  eloquent 
of  Nelson's  triumphs.  Crude  as  were  her  emotions 
and  her  hero-worship,  they  yet  were  bold  and  gene- 
ous.  She  saw  Merton  as  the  shrine  of  England's 
greatest  seaman :  with  unflagging  reiteration 
and  enthusiasm  she  made  it  speak  Nelson  on  every 
wall. 

Nelson's  nephew,  the  young  George  Matcham, 
who  also  frequented  Merton,  gives  a  different 
picture  to  Lord  Minto  of  the  Admiral's  life  there. 
"  Lord  Nelson  in  private  life,"  he  says,  "  was 
remarkable  for  a  demeanour  quiet,  sedate,  and 

200 


"PARADISE  MERTON" 

unobtrusive,  anxious  to  give  pleasure  to  every 
one  about  him,  distinguishing  each  in  turn  by 
some  act  of  kindness,  and  chiefly  those  who  seemed 
to  require  it  most. 

"  During  his  few  intervals  of  leisure,  in  a  little 
knot  of  relations  and  friends,  he  delighted  in  quiet 
conversation,  through  which  occasionally  ran  an 
undercurrent  of  pleasantry,  not  unmixed  with 
caustic  wit.  At  his  table  he  was  the  least  heard 
among  the  company,  and  so  far  from  being  the 
hero  of  his  own  tale,  I  never  heard  him  voluntarily 
refer  to  any  of  the  great  actions  of  his  life. 

'  I  have  known  him  lauded  by  the  great  and 
wise ;  but  he  seemed  to  me  to  waive  the  homage 
with  as  little  attention  as  was  consistent  with 
civility.  Nevertheless,  a  mind  like  his  was  neces- 
sarily won  by  attention  from  those  who  could  best 
estimate  his  value.  ...  in  his  plain  suit  of  black, 
in  which  he  alone  recurs  to  my  memory,  he  always 
looked  what  he  was — a  gentleman." 

Another  allusion  to  the  "  plain  suit  of  black  " 
occurs  in  John  Horsley's  Recollections,  for  his 
father  remembered  the  Admiral  thus  attired 
going  often  to  Moorfields  Church  to  hear  the  singing 
charity  girls. 

Out  of  all  these  contradictory  impressions  of 
the  people  who  knew  him  we  have  to  make  up 
our  vision  of  Nelson,  remembering  that  one  so 
sensitive  in  temperament  as  he  was  would  un- 
consciously be  influenced  to  some  extent  by  the 
people  he  was  with,  and  thus  certain  traits  would 

201 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

be  emphasised  or  suppressed  at  different  times. 
But  the  central  unity  of  his  character  was  never 
really  altered  by  his  many  passions  and  moods 
— in  every  action  and  word  he  was  essentially 
Nelson. 


202 


CHAPTER  XI:  TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND. 

NELSON  knew  his  England  fairly  well, 
even  though  he  spent  so  many  years  of  his 
life  at  sea  or  in  distant  lands  under  more 
fervid  suns.  But  there  were  few  English  sea- 
ports he  had  not  known,  from  little  Wells  in 
Norfolk  to  Portsmouth  and  Plymouth.  Long 
journeys  by  coach  or  "  post "  must  have  made 
certain  aspects  of  eastern  and  southern  England 
very  familiar  to  him.  The  pace  of  even  the  swiftest 
horses  leaves  time  for  hedgerows  and  villages  and 
blue  horizons  to  sink  into  the  mind,  to  greet  the 
returning  traveller  with  looks  of  sweet  familiarity 
and  remembrance.  That  Nelson  was  susceptible 
to  these  impressions  many  allusions  show — little 
things  were  ever  part  of  his  happiness  when  he  was 
most  himself ;  and  to  him,  as  to  all  who  have 
suffered  exile,  there  was  a  kind  of  rareness  and 
preciousness  about  England. 

His  home  county  of  Norfolk  he  knew  very 
intimately,  for  he  had  not  only  his  boyish  time  there 
but  the  years  of  half-pay  when  he  was  newly 
married.  The  long  journey  from  Burnham  Thorpe 
to  London  was  apparently  thought  little  of  by  him, 
and  the  journey  from  London  to  Bath.  A  story 
is  told  that  on  one  of  these  occasions  he  asked  the 

203 


Boots  of  the  Pelican  Inn  at  Newbury,  where  he 
was  putting  up  for  the  night,  "  Can  I  get  from 
here  to  London  by  water  ?  "  The  answer  given 
him  was  that  he  could  go  by  the  canal  to  Reading 
and  then  on  by  the  Thames  to  London.  It  is 
not  recorded  that  the  Admiral  tried  this  slow  and 
watery  manner  of  moving  about  his  native  land. 

In  the  days  when  horses  were  the  only  means 
of  getting  from  place  to  place  people  seem  to  have 
journeyed  freely  and  taken  small  count  of  a  few 
hundred  miles.  Pleasure  journeys  were  frequent, 
aged  and  ailing  people  went  long  distances  to 
drink  healing  waters,  and  the  only  trouble  seems 
to  have  been  the  wicked  "  velocity  "  of  the  most 
up-to-date  coaches. 

In  the  summer  of  1802  Nelson  and  the  Hamiltons 
planned  some  considerable  travels.  Sir  William 
Hamilton  wished  to  visit  the  property  at  Milford 
in  Wales,  and  there  were  other  places  and  people 
by  the  way  it  would  be  pleasant  to  visit.  So  on 
the  9th  of  July  they  started.  Box  Hill  was  the 
first  resting  place,  and  at  the  top  of  a  letter  written 
there  at  7  o'clock  on  that  summer's  evening 
Nelson,  evidently  in  high  spirits,  put  "  A  very 
pretty  place,  and  we  are  all  very  happy." 

It  was  a  large  party,  for  the  Reverend  William 
Nelson,  with  his  lively  little  wife  and  their  son 
Horatio,  were  also  with  them,  while  at  Oxford  the 
cavalcade  was  joined  by  the  Matchams — dinner 
being  ordered  at  the  Star  Inn  at  five  o'clock  for 
a  party  of  eight.  But  Nelson  never  could  have 

204 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

too  much  of  his  relations,  though  he  was  easily 
rendered  irritable  by  the  presence  of  strangers. 
At  Oxford — whose  grey  haunts  of  learning  and  of 
peace  were  so  far  removed  from  every  circumstance 
of  Nelson's  life — the  Admiral  was  made  a  Freeman 
and  a  Doctor  of  Civil  Law.  The  same  academic 
distinction  was  also  bestowed  on  Sir  William  Hamil- 
ton. From  Oxford  the  party  made  an  expedition 
to  Blenheim,  where  they  met  with  an  unpleasant 
rebuff,  for  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  instead  of 
inviting  them  to  lunch,  sent  refreshments  to  them 
in  the  park,  of  which  they  refused  to  partake. 
Probably  it  was  the  presence  of  Lady  Hamilton 
with  Nelson  that  caused  this  discourteous  behaviour 
to  the  hero  of  his  country.  But  it  was  the  one 
untoward  incident  in  a  journey  that  developed 
into  a  triumphal  progress.  From  Oxford  the 
party  went  to  Gloucester — where  George  and 
Catherine  Matcham  and  their  son  left  them  to 
proceed  to  Bath — from  Gloucester  to  Ross,  and 
so  on  to  Monmouth,  Caermarthen  and  Milford. 
After  inspecting  the  property  at  Milford,  which 
was  managed  by  Sir  William's  nephew  Greville— 
a  man  whom  Nelson  never  liked,  though  ap- 
parently he  had  no  suspicion  of  his  earlier  con- 
nection with  Emma  Hamilton  in  the  days  when 
she  was  a  penniless  girl — they  went  on  to  Swansea, 
where  Nelson  was  received  "  with  every  mark  of 
distinction."  To  show  how  pleased  the  Admiral 
was  with  his  reception  the  Portreeve  printed  the 
following  paper  : 

205 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

"  To  the  Corporation  and  Inhabitants  of  Swan- 
sea, and  of  the  Neighbourhood,  at  the  particular 
instance  and  request  of  Lord  Nelson.  I  have  the 
honour  to  communicate  to  you  his  Lordship's  most 
grateful  and  sincere  thanks  for  his  flattering 
reception  amongst  you,  and  to  assure  you  that 
the  favours  you  have  conferred  upon  him  will 
never  be  effaced  from  his  memory — that  the 
remembrance  of  them  will  descend  with  him  to 
his  grave.  That  he  feels  the  distinguished  marks 
of  regard  and  applause  not  so  much  on  his  own 
account  as  for  what  an  example  of  their  being  so 
bestowed  on  him  might  afford  to  the  rising 
generation.  c  That  their  endeavours  to  serve  their 
Country  and  probably  to  succeed  in  it,  as  he  had 
been  flattered,  had  fallen  to  his  lot,  would  be  as 
amply  encouraged  and  rewarded,  and  their  names 
recorded  with  posterity,  amongst  those  who  had 
deserved  well  of  it.' : 

At  Monmouth  he  made  a  speech  at  a  public 
dinner,  and  some  characteristic  sentences  must 
be  quoted :  "In  my  own  person,"  said  the  Ad- 
miral, standing  slender  and  erect,  so  thin  and  worn 
in  aspect,  so  dauntless  in  heart,  "  In  my  own 
person  I  have  received  an  overflowing  measure  of 
the  Nation's  gratitude — far  more  than  I  either 
merited  or  expected ;  because  the  same  success 
would  have  crowned  the  efforts  of  any  other 
British  Admiral,  who  had  under  his  command  such 
distinguished  Officers  and  such  gallant  Crews. 
And  here  let  me  impress  it  on  the  mind  of  every 

206 


BUST    OF    NELSON   BY    L.    GAHAGAN,    BATH.    1804. 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

Officer  in  the  Service,  that  to  whatever  quarter 
of  the  Globe  he  may  be  destined,  whether  to  the 
East  or  West  Indies,  to  Africa,  or  America,  the 
eyes  of  his  Country  are  upon  him  ;  and  so  long  as 
Public  men,  in  Public  stations,  exert  themselves 
in  those  situations,  to  fulfil  the  duty  demanded 
from  them  by  the  Public,  they  will  always  find 
the  British  Nation  ready  to  heap  upon  them  the 
utmost  extent  of  its  gratitude  and  its  applause." 

That  statement  about  the  "  eyes  of  his  Country  " 
being  upon  the  young  officer  in  distant  seas,  recalls 
an  early  vision  of  Nelson's  when  "  the  sudden  glow 
of  patriotism "  was  kindled  within  him  and  a 
"  radiant  orb  "  suspended  before  his  mind's  eye. 
Indeed,  it  was  during  this  very  tour,  while  at 
Downton  Castle  in  Herefordshire,  that  he  confided 
to  a  friend  his  boyish  exaltation.  It  was  not 
unnatural  that  in  the  midst  of  this  triumphal 
progress,  at  the  apex  of  his  fame,  when  it  might 
seem  that  all  his  battles  were  won  and  peace  his 
future  portion,  his  thoughts  should  turn  backwards 
to  those  early  days  when  he  was  obscure  and 
struggling,  thirsting  after  glory,  untested  in  the 
great  crucible  of  war. 

One  of  the  episodes  of  this  tour  was  Nelson's 
visit  to  the  "  Naval  Temple  "  on  the  summit  of 
Kymin  Hill.  "  It  was  not  only  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  places  he  had  ever  seen,"  said  the  Ad- 
miral, "  but,  to  the  boast  of  Monmouth,  the 
temple  was  the  only  monument  of  the  kind  erected 
to  the  English  Navy  in  the  whole  range  of  the 

207 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Kingdom."  The  view  that  Nelson  looked  on  is 
certainly  a  wonderful  one,  stretching  into  many 
"  coloured  counties,"  and  overlooking  the  lovely 
district  of  the  Wye.  Perhaps  he,  like  Words- 
worth, may  have  owed  to  that  river  "  In  hours  of 
weariness,  sensations  sweet,  Felt  in  the  blood, 
and  felt  along  the  heart  "  —little  as  it  is  likely  that 
he  had  read  the  poem  which  was  written  and 
published  hi  his  great  year  of  the  Nile. 

From  Monmouth  the  Hamilton-Nelson  party 
journeyed  back  to  Ross,  from  Boss  to  Hereford, 
Ludlow,  and  Worcester,  and  then  by  Birmingham, 
Warwick,  and  Coventry  back  to  Merton  and 
home.  A  very  considerable  round,  as  will  be  seen. 
Scattered  episodes  emerge :  Nelson  was  greeted 
by  melodious  bells  wherever  he  moved ;  stately 
cathedral  or  humble  village  church  saluted  him 
in  that  heart-uplifting  manner.  In  the  church- 
warden's accounts  of  St.  Mary's,  at  Warwick,  is 
this  entry :  "  Gave  the  ringers  for  ringing  for  Lord 
Nelson  at  Warwick  by  order  of  the  Mayor  £1  1  0." 
Whenever  he  crossed  a  county  boundary  he  was 
received  and  escorted  by  the  yeomanry,  very 
loyal  and  vigorous  and  beaming,  presenting  arms 
in  a  cheerful  and  awkward  manner.  Triumphal 
arches  sprang  out  of  the  ground,  and  his  carriage 
was  constantly  unhorsed,  while  the  populace 
proudly  drew  the  seaman  who  had  fought  and 
bled  for  them.  When  he  sailed  upon  the  Wye 
the  banks  were  lined  with  people  eager  to  gaze 
upon  him.  Towns  and  cities  clamoured  that  he 

208 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

would  accept  their  Freedoms,  till  he  was  burdened 
with  the  weight  of  valuable  boxes  that  accompany 
that  honour.  He  went  to  the  play  at  Birmingham, 
and  medals  were  struck  to  commemorate  that 
event,  while  his  carriage  was  escorted  to  the 
play-house  by  a  multitude  of  torch-bearers.  The 
special  object  of  this  tour  was,  of  course,  the 
inspection  of  Sir  William  Hamilton's  estate  at 
Milford  and  the  harbour  improvements.  This 
coincided  with  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of 
the  Nile,  and  was  celebrated  by  a  great  dinner 
to  all  the  important  people  of  the  neighbourhood, 
where  Nelson,  as  was  expected  of  him,  duly  made 
a  speech,  referring,  among  other  things,  to  the 
magnificence  of  Milford  Haven.  He  also  laid  the 
foundation  stone  of  a  church  there. 

At  the  Castle  Hotel,  Llandovery,  he  asked  if 
anyone  had  his  portrait,  and  when  one  was  pre- 
sented to  him  he  wrote  his  name  and  the  date 
on  the  back  :  "  Nelson  &  Bronte,  Llandovery, 
July  28th,  1802." 

An  interesting  little  episode  of  this  time  which 
has  never  seen  print  is  that  Nelson  asked  his  old 
comrade  of  the  Nile,  Captain  Foley,  who  had 
joined  the  party  at  Milford  Haven,  to  ride  over  to 
Ridgeway,  the  residence  of  his  elder  brother, 
John  Halbert  Foley,  and  propose  a  visit  from  them. 
Captain  Foley  did  so,  and  at  first  found  his 
brother's  wife  very  unwilling  to  receive  the  too- 
notorious  Lady  Hamilton,  but  this  objection 
was  over-ruled,  and  the  Nelson-Hamilton  party 

209  P 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

arrived  and  stayed  several  days  at  Ridgeway. 
They  were  received  with  illuminations,  the  avenue 
and  house  being  lit  up  with  lanterns  and  all  the 
candles  which  Haverford  West,  the  nearest  town, 
could  supply.  The  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Foley 
was  a  child  of  about  six  years  old,  and  when  she 
was  brought  down  to  dessert  on  the  evening  of 
Nelson's  arrival,  was  much  struck  with  the  gentle- 
man with  one  eye  and  one  arm,  but  she  got  over  her 
astonishment  when  the  Admiral  took  her  on  his 
knee  and  dropped  grapes  into  her  mouth  with  his 
one  hand  !  *  Probably  he  was  thinking  of  his  baby 
Horatia  as  he  did  so. 

And  then  at  last,  after  all  this  visiting,  acclama- 
tion, and  excitement,  the  party  returned  to  Merton 
in  September.  Emma  Hamilton  took  up  her 
pen  to  tell  Davison  of  the  triumph  and  the  general 
confounding  of  all  who,  like  the  Marlboroughs,  did 
not  hasten  to  pay  Nelson  homage  :  "  We  have  had 
a  most  charming  Tour  which  will  Burst  some  of 
THEM,"  she  exclaims  violently.  "  So  let  all  the 
enimies  of  the  GREATEST  man  alive  !  And  bless 
his  friends."  To  Nelson's  sister,  Mrs.  Matcham, 
she  wrote,  "  Oh  how  our  Hero  has  been  received. 
I  wish  you  could  come  to  hear  all  our  Story, 
most  enteresting." 

At  this  time  the  Matchams  were  contemplating 
coming  to  live  somewhere  within  reach  of 
Merton  ;  a  house  at  Streatham,  with  thirty  acres 

*  I  am  indebted  for  this  interesting  little  glimpse  to  Miss  H.  Vernon. 
•whose  mother  was  that  little  girl,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Foley. 

210 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

of  land,  had  been  thought  of,  and  then  another 
at  Epsom,  which  Nelson  and  Lady  Hamilton 
went  to  look  at  on  their  behalf,  but  eventually 
these  plans  fell  through.  It  was  not  till  the  year 
after  Nelson's  death  that  George  Matcham  pur- 
chased his  beautiful  Sussex  home  of  Ashfold 
Lodge. 

One  written  remembrance  of  Nelson's  tour  is 
the  memoranda  he  put  down  respecting  the  Forest 
of  Dean,  where  his  agricultural  and  his  naval 
interests  met  and  mingled. 

"  The  Forest  of  Dean,"  he  wrote,  "  contains 
about  23,000  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  the  King- 
dom, which,  I  am  informed,  if  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation  of  oak,  would  produce  about  9,200 
loads  of  timber,  fit  for  building  Ships  of  the  Line, 
every  year — that  is,  the  Forest  would  grow  in 
full  vigour  920,000  oak  trees.  The  state  of  the 
Forest  at  this  moment  is  deplorable  ;  for,  if  my 
information  is  true,  there  is  not  3,500  load  of  timber 
in  the  whole  Forest  fit  for  building,  and  none 
coming  forward  .  .  .  where  good  timber  is  felled, 
nothing  is  planted,  and  nothing  can  grow  self 
sown  ;  for  the  deer  (of  which  now  only  a  few 
remain)  bark  all  the  young  trees.  Vast  droves  of 
hogs  are  allowed  to  go  into  the  woods  in  the 
autumn  ;  and  if  any  fortunate  acorn  escapes  their 
search,  and  takes  root,  then  flocks  of  sheep  are 
allowed  to  go  into  the  Forest,  and  they  bite  off 
the  tender  shoot.  These  are  sufficient  reasons 
why  timber  does  not  grow  in  the  Forest  of  Dean. 

211 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

"  Of  the  waste  of  timber,  in  former  times,  I  can 
say  nothing  ;  but  of  late  years,  it  has  been,  I  am 
told,  shameful.  Trees  cut  down  in  swampy  places, 
as  the  carriage  is  done  by  contract,  are  left  to  rot, 
and  are  cut  up  by  people  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Another  abuse  is  the  Contractors,  as  they  can 
carry  more  measurement,  are  allowed  to  cut  the 
trees  to  their  advantage  of  carriage,  by  which 
means  the  invaluable  crooked  timber  is  lost  for 
the  service  of  the  Navy.  ...  If  the  Forest  of 
Dean  is  to  be  preserved  as  a  useful  Forest  for 
the  Country,  strong  measures  must  be  pursued. 
First,  the  Guardian  of  this  support  of  our  Navy, 
must  be  an  intelligent  honest  man,  who  will  give 
up  his  time  to  his  employment :  therefore,  he 
must  live  in  the  Forest,  have  a  house,  a  small 
farm,  and  an  adequate  salary.  I  omitted  to 
mention  that  the  expense  of  a  Surveyor  of  Woods, 
as  far  as  relates  to  this  Forest,  to  be  done  away  : 
Verderer,  as  at  present,  also.  The  Guardian  to 
have  proper  Verderers  under  him  who  understand 
the  planting,  thinning,  and  management  of  timber 
trees.  These  places  should  be  so  comfortable 
that  the  fear  of  being  turned  out  should  be  a  great 
object  of  terror,  and,  of  course,  an  inducement  for 
them  to  exert  themselves  hi  their  different 
stations.  The  first  thing  necessary  in  the  Forest 
of  Dean  is  to  plant  some  acres  of  acorns ;  and  I 
saw  plenty  of  clear  fields  with  cattle  grazing  in  my 
voyage  down  the  Wye.  In  two  years,  these  will 
be  fit  for  transplanting.  ...  I  am  sensible  that 

212 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

what  I  have  thrown  together  upon  paper  is 
so  loose,  that  no  plan  can  be  drawn  from  it; 
but  if  these  facts,  which  I  have  learnt  from 
my  late  tour,  may  be  in  the  least  degree  instru- 
mental in  benefiting  our  Country,  I  shall  be  truly 
happy." 

This  paper  was  communicated  to  the  Prime 
Minister,  and  was  followed  by  : 

"  A  few  Thoughts  on  encouraging  the  Growth 
of  Oak  Timber,  drawn  from  conversations  with 
many  gentlemen  in  my  late  tour : 

"  First,  The  reason  why  timber  has  of  late  years 
been  so  much  reduced  has  been  uniformly  told 
me,  that,  from  the  pressure  of  the  times,  gentlemen 
who  had  £1000  to  £5[000]  worth  of  timber  on  their 
estates,  although  only  half -grown,  (say,  fifty  years 
of  age,)  were  obliged  to  sell  it  to  raise  temporary 
sums,  (say  to  pay  off  legacies.)  The  owner 
cannot,  however  sorry  he  may  feel  to  see  the  beauty 
of  his  place  destroyed,  and  what  would  be  treble 
the  value  to  his  children  annihilated,  help  himself. 
It  has  struck  me  forcibly,  that  if  Government 
could  form  a  plan  to  purchase  of  such  gentlemen 
the  growing  oak,  that  it  would  be  a  National 
benefit,  and  a  great  and  pleasing  accommodation 
to  such  growers  of  oak  as  wish  to  sell. 

"  My  knowledge  of  this  subject,  drawn  from  the 
conversation  of  gentlemen  in  the  oak  countries, 
I  think,  would  almost  obviate  all  difficulties. 
Of  myself,  I  own  my  incompetence  to  draw  up  a 
plan  fit  for  public  inspection  ;  but  all  my  gathered 

213 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

knowledge  shall  be  most  cheerfully  at  the  service 
of  some  able  man." 

Oak  seems  a  natural  subject  for  a  sailor,  but 
there  is  something  amusing  in  Nelson's  simple  faith 
that  his  knowledge  gathered  from  "  the  conversa- 
tion of  gentlemen  hi  the  oak  countries "  would 
be  so  useful  to  the  Government.  But  these 
memoranda  provide  yet  another  link  between  him 
and  Cuthbert  Collingwood,  who  followed  him  step 
by  step  up  the  ladder  of  promotion  and  took  over 
the  supreme  command  at  his  death  at  Trafalgar. 
It  was  Collingwood  who,  when  on  shore,  used  to 
walk  about  with  a  supply  of  acorns  in  his  pocket, 
which  he  dropped  in  hedges  and  fields,  thereby 
seeing  with  the  eye  of  faith  fine  timber  for  Ships 
of  the  Line  springing  from  his  humble  acorns. 
He  advised  all  country  gentlemen  to  do  likewise. 
To  these  heroic  sailors  the  connection  between  sea 
power  and  forestry  was  evident  and  close  for 
"  They  shall  ride 

Over  ocean  wide 

With  hempen  bridle  and  horse  of  tree," 
as  Thomas  of  Erceldoune  sang. 

On  his  return,  Nelson  called  first  at  St.  James's 
Square  to  see  his  friend  Alexander  Davison,  but 
finding  him  away  at  his  Northumberland  house, 
wrote  to  him  from  Merton  :  "  We  have  had  rather 
a  longer  tour  than  was  at  first  intended,  for  Merton 
was  not  fit  to  receive  us  ...  the  work  went  on 
so  very  slowly.  It  is  not  even  yet  finished.  Our 
tour  has  been  very  fine  and  interesting,  and  the 

214 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

way  in  which  I  have  been  everywhere  received 
most  flattering  to  my  feelings ;  and  although 
some  of  the  higher  powers  may  wish  to  keep  me 
down,  yet  the  reward  of  the  general  approbation 
and  gratitude  for  my  services  is  an  ample  reward 
for  all  I  have  done ;  but  it  makes  a  comparison 
fly  up  to  my  mind,  not  much  to  the  credit  of  some 
in  the  higher  Offices  of  the  State." 

In  a  letter  of  a  week  later  to  the  same  corres- 
pondent he  says,  "  You  are  right  about  the 
country ;  for  London  seems  absolutely  deserted, 
and  so  hot  and  stinking  that  it  is  truly  detestable." 
He  adds  that  it  is  not  impossible  that  next  year 
they  may  make  a  northern  tour,  when  they  would 
have  much  pleasure  in  visiting  Swanland  House. 

The  Copenhagen  slight  was  still  strong  hi  his 
memory,  for  when  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Sheriffs 
requested  the  honour  of  his  company  to  dine  at 
the  Guildhall  on  Lord  Mayor's  day,  he  declined ; 
for,  as  he  said,  "  Lord  Nelson's  sentiments  being 
precisely  the  same,  and  feeling  for  the  situation 
of  those  brave  Captains,  Officers,  and  Men,  who 
so  bravely  fought,  profusely  bled,  and  obtained 
such  a  glorious,  complete,  and  most  important 
Victory  for  their  King  and  Country,  cannot  do 
himself  the  honour  and  happiness  of  meeting  his 
Fellow-Citizens  on  the  9th  of  November." 

Nelson  made  this  outstanding  and  continuous 
protest  as  part  of  the  duty  he  owed  his  comrades- 
in-arms.  Another  part  of  his  duty  to  his  country 
which  he  fulfilled  equally  faithfully  was  speaking 

215 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

in  the  House  of  Lords  whenever  questions  of  naval 
interest  came  up.  One  of  these  occasions  was 
on  the  21st  of  December  in  this  year  (1802)  on  the 
Bill  for  a  Naval  Inquiry.  Nelson  said : 

"  My  Lords,  in  the  absence  of  my  noble  friend 
who  is  at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty,  I  think  it  my 
duty  to  say  a  few  words  to  your  Lordships  in  regard 
to  a  Bill,  of  which  the  objects  have  an  express 
reference  to  the  interests  of  my  profession  as  a 
Seaman.  It  undoubtedly  originates  in  the  feeling 
of  the  Admiralty,  that  they  have  not  the  power  to 
remedy  certain  abuses  which  they  perceive  to  be 
the  most  injurious  to  the  Public  service.  Every 
man  knows  that  there  are  such  abuses ;  and  I 
hope  there  is  none  among  us  who  would  not  gladly 
do  all  that  can  be  constitutionally  effected  to 
correct  them.  Yet,  if  I  had  heard  of  any  objection 
of  weight  urged  against  the  measure  in  the  present 
Bill,  I  should  certainly  have  hesitated  to  do  aught 
to  promote  its  progress  through  the  forms  of  this 
House.  But  I  can  recollect  but  one  thing  with 
which  I  have  been  struck,  as  possibly  exceptionable 
in  its  terms.  It  authorises  the  Commissioners 
to  call  for  and  inspect  the  books  of  Merchants 
who  may  have  had  transactions  of  business  with 
any  of  the  Boards  or  Prize-agents  into  whose  con- 
duct they  are  to  inquire.  But  the  credit  of  the 
British  Merchant  is  the  support  of  the  commerce 
of  the  world ;  his  books  are  not  lightly,  nor  for 
any  ordinary  purpose,  to  be  taken  out  of  his  own 
hands ;  the  secrets  of  his  business  are  not  to  be 

216 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

too  curiously  pried  into.  The  books  of  a  single 
Merchant  may  betray  the  secrets,  not  only  of  his 
own  affairs,  but  of  those  with  whom  he  is  prin- 
cipally connected  in  business,  and  the  reciprocal 
confidence  of  the  whole  commercial  world  may, 
by  the  authoritative  inquiry  of  these  Commis- 
sioners, be  shaken.  All  this,  at  least,  I  should 
have  feared  as  liable  to  happen,  if  the  persons  who 
are  named  in  the  Bill  had  not  been  men  whose 
characters  are  above  all  suspicion  of  indiscretion 
or  malice  .  .  .  and  truly,  my  Lords,  if  the  Bill 
be  thus  superior  to  all  objections,  I  can  affirm, 
that  the  necessities,  the  wrongs  of  those  who  are 
employed  in  the  Naval  service  of  their  Country, 
most  loudly  call  for  the  redress  which  it  proposes. 
From  the  highest  Admiral  in  the  Service  to  the 
lowest  cabin-boy  that  walks  the  street,  there  is 
not  a  man  but  may  be  in  distress,  with  large  sums 
of  wages  due  to  him,  of  which  he  shall,  by  no 
diligence  of  request,  be  able  to  obtain  payment : 
there  is  not  a  man,  whose  entreaties  will  be  readily 
answered  with  aught  but  insults,  at  the  proper 
places  for  his  application,  if  he  come  not  with 
particular  recommendations  to  a  preference.  From 
the  highest  Admiral  to  the  meanest  Seaman, 
whatever  the  sums  of  Prize-money  due  to  him, 
no  man  can  tell  when  he  may  securely  call  any 
part  of  it  his  own.  A  man  may  have  £40,000 
due  to  him  in  Prize-money,  and  yet  be  dismissed 
without  a  shilling,  if  he  ask  for  it,  at  the  proper 
Office,  without  particular  recommendation.  Are 

217 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

these  things  to  be  tolerated  ?  Is  it  not  for  the 
interest — is  it  not  for  the  honour  of  the  Country, 
that  they  should  not  be  as  speedily  as  possible 
redressed  ?  " 

Well  might  Lady  Hamilton  exclaim  that  he 
spoke  "  like  an  angel  in  the  House  of  Lords  "  ! 

Christmas  was  celebrated  at  Merton  with  all 
the  usual  festivities  and  a  large  family  gathering. 
"  Here  we  are  as  happy  as  Kings  and  much  more 
so,"  wrote  Emma  Hamilton,  "  We  have  3  Boltons, 
2  Nelson  and  only  want  2  or  3  Little  Matchams 
to  be  quite  en  famille,  happy  and  comfortable, 
for  the  greatest  of  all  Joys  to  our  most  Excellent 
Nelson,  is  when  he  has  his  Sisters  or  their  Children 
with  him  ;  for  sure  no  brother  was  ever  so  much 
attached  as  he  is." 

Early  in  the  New  Year  of  1803  the  Hamiltons 
went  from  Merton  to  their  house  at  23,  Piccadilly, 
which  they  still  retained  and  occasionally  used, 
and  Nelson  went  with  them,  for  besides  his  dislike 
to  being  parted  from  his  "  incomparable  "  Emma, 
there  was  much  Admiralty  and  law  business  which 
demanded  his  presence  in  town  at  this  time.  His 
increasing  loss  of  sight  in  his  one  remaining  eye 
was  a  great  trouble  to  him  and  anxiety  to  those 
who  loved  him.  Writing  was  very  bad  for  him, 
and  he  made  use  of  his  secretary  Oliver  to  some 
extent ;  but  his  impulsive  feelings  demanded 
personal  utterance,  for  as  he  wrote  to  Davison, 
"  I  have  been,  and  am,  very  bad  in  my  eyesight, 
and  am  forbid  writing  ;  but  I  could  not  resist." 

218 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

Early  in  April  Sir  William  Hamilton  died,  worn 
out  and  older  than  his  years,  which  were  seventy- 
three.  He  was  watched  and  tended  to  the  last 
by  his  wife  and  the  man  who  unlawfully  loved  her. 

Nelson  sat  up  with  him  for  the  last  six  nights 
of  his  illness,  and  when  he  died,  wrote :  "  Our  dear 
Sir  William  died  at  10  minutes  past  Ten  this 
morning  in  Lady  Hamilton's  and  my  arms  without 
a  sigh  or  a  struggle."  In  all  sincerity  that  was 
written,  and  not  less  so  the  faithless  Emma's 
comment :  "  Unhappy  day  for  the  forlorn  Emma 
.  .  .  dear  blessed  Sir  William  left  me."  Yet  the 
old  man's  death  removed  one  "  impediment " 
to  the  marriage  which  they  both  so  desired.  It  is 
only  another  instance  of  the  curious  tangle  and 
complexity  of  human  emotions,  which  are  so 
mixed  of  good  and  evil,  of  faith  and  falsehood. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  both  Nelson  and  Emma 
had  long  ceased  to  regard  Sir  William  as  anything 
but  a  kind  of  father  or  uncle  to  them  both — the 
considerable  difference  in  age  between  him  and 
his  wife  had  helped  to  obscure  the  marital  relation. 
What  Sir  William  himself  thought  about  it  all 
remains  an  obscurer  problem ;  possibly  he  was  a 
little  worn  out  with  Emma's  vagaries  and  en- 
thusiasms, and  did  not  much  care  the  direction 
they  took,  provided  he  was  allowed  to  follow  his 
own  antiquarian  and  literary  pursuits  ;  possibly 
he  did  not  expect  too  much  from  the  woman  whose 
past  was  so  far  from  irreproachable  when  he  married 
her.  Anyway,  in  his  will  he  left  a  miniature  of 

219 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Emma  to  "  my  dearest  friend  Lord  Nelson,  Duke 
of  Bronte,  a  very  small  token  of  the  great  regard 
I  have  for  his  lordship,  the  most  virtuous,  loyal, 
and  truly  brave  character  I  ever  met  with.  God 
bless  him,  and  shame  fall  on  all  those  who  do  not 
say  Amen." 

Sir  William's  death  in  one  way  complicated  an 
already  somewhat  involved  situation.  As  Captain 
Hardy  curtly  remarked,  "  Sir  William  Hamilton 
died  on  Sunday  afternoon,  and  was  quite  sensible 
to  the  last.  How  her  Ladyship  will  manage  to 
Live  with  the  Hero  of  the  Nile  now,  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  know,  at  least  in  an  honourable  way." 

This  problem  was  temporarily  solved  by  the 
fresh  outbreak  of  war  with  France,  when  Nelson 
was  given  the  Mediterranean  command,  for  "Buon- 
naparte  knows  that  if  he  hoists  his  flag  it  will  not 
be  in  joke."  Nelson's  views  on  war  had  been 
shown  in  the  noble  words  he  spoke  in  the  House 
of  Lords  the  previous  winter  :  "I,  my  Lords,  have 
in  different  countries,  seen  much  of  the  miseries 
of  war.  I  am,  therefore,  in  my  inmost  soul,  a 
man  of  peace.  Yet  I  would  not,  for  the  sake  of 
any  peace,  however  fortunate,  consent  to  sacrifice 
one  jot  of  England's  honour.  Our  honour  is 
inseparably  combined  with  our  genuine  interest. 
Hitherto  there  has  been  nothing  greater  known 
on  the  Continent  than  the  faith,  the  untainted 
honour,  the  generous  public  sympathies,  the  high 
diplomatic  influence,  the  Commerce,  the  grandeur, 
the  resistless  power,  the  unconquerable  valour  of 

220 


SKETCH    OF   NELSON    BY    DE   ROSTER. 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

the  British  nation.  ...  It  is  satisfactory  to  know, 
that  the  preparations  to  maintain  our  dignity  in 
peace,  are  not  to  be  neglected.  Those  supplies 
which  his  Majesty  shall  for  such  purposes  demand, 
his  people  will  most  earnestly  grant.  The  nation 
is  satisfied  that  the  Government  seeks  in  peace 
or  war  no  interest  separate  from  that  of  the  people 
at  large  ;  and  as  the  nation  was  pleased  with  that 
sincere  spirit  of  peace  with  which  the  late  treaty 
was  negotiated,  so,  now  that  a  restless  and  unjust 
ambition  in  those  with  whom  we  desired  sincere 
amity  has  given  a  new  alarm,  the  country  will 
rather  prompt  the  Government  to  assert  its  honour, 
than  need  to  be  roused  to  such  measures  of  vigorous 
defence  as  the  exigency  of  the  times  may  require." 

There  speaks  the  statesman,  the  warrior  who 
knew  the  bitterness  and  the  cost  of  war.  But  we 
have  the  impulsive  Nelson  in  a  little  story 
Addington,  the  Prime  Minister,  tells  of  him 
at  this  time.  "  It  matters  not  at  all,"  said  the 
Admiral,  picking  up  a  poker  from  the  hearth, 
"  in  what  way  I  lay  this  poker  on  the  floor.  But 
if  Buonaparte  should  say  it  must  be  placed  in  this 
direction,"  moving  it  as  he  spoke,  "  we  must 
instantly  insist  upon  its  being  laid  in  some  other 
one." 

At  the  outbreak  of  this  renewed  war  Nelson 
had  more  to  lose  and  to  leave  than  ever  before. 
Yet,  as  always,  unfailing  he  responded  to  the  call 
of  his  country.  While  warlike  measures  were 
being  discussed  in  Parliament  in  March,  Nelson, 

221 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

convinced  that  war  must  come,  left  his  seat  in 
the  Upper  House  and  sent  Addington  this  preg- 
nant line,  "  Whenever  it  is  necessary,  I  am  your 
Admiral."  He  was  more,  as  he  surely  knew,  he 
was  England's  Admiral.  "  War  or  Peace  ?  "  he 
wrote  to  his  old  flag-captain  Berry.  "  Every  person 
has  a  different  opinion.  I  fear  perhaps  the  former, 
as  I  hope  so  much  the  latter." 

On  the  16th  of  May  he  received  his  commission 
as  Commander-in-Chief  in  the  Mediterranean. 
Just  before  this  he  had  taken  part  in  a  private 
matter  very  near  his  heart,  the  christening  of  his 
infant  daughter  Horatia  at  Marylebone  Church — 
the  church  where  he  always  worshipped  when  in 
London.  He  and  Lady  Hamilton,  the  unac- 
knowledged parents  of  the  two-year-old  child, 
stood  together  at  the  font  as  godfather  and  god- 
mother of  Horatia  Nelson  Thompson,  as  she  was 
baptized.  Nelson  gave  her  on  this  occasion  a 
silver  cup. 

Two  other  events  of  personal  interest  to  the 
Admiral  took  place  on  the  very  day  of  his  de- 
parture. One  of  these  was  the  marriage  of  Captain 
Sir  William  Bolton  to  his  cousin  and  Nelson's  niece, 
Catherine  Bolton,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Thomas  Bolton. 
This  wedding  took  place  from  Lady  Hamilton's 
house  in  Clarges  Street,  where  she  had  moved 
after  Sir  William's  death,  on  Piccadilly  proving 
beyond  her  means. 

The  other  event  in  which  Nelson  was  concerned, 
though  he  was  unable  to  take  part,  was  his  in- 

222 


TRAVELS  IN  ENGLAND 

stallation  as  a  Knight  of  the  Bath,  when  this 
same  Sir  William  Bolton  was  his  proxy,  as  the 
Installation  took  place  on  the  19th  of  May,  the 
day  on  which  he  sailed.  His  Esquires  were  his 
nephews,  Horatio  Nelson  and  Thomas  Bolton, 
both  of  whom  in  succession  were  to  be  his  heirs 
and  inheritors  of  the  titles  of  his  valour.  The 
Admiral  had  in  person  previous  to  this  attended 
several  Chapters  and  Conventions  which  were  held 
to  arrange  the  proceedings. 

In  the  very  early  morning,  four  o'clock,  of 
May  18th,  the  postchaise  drew  up  before  the  door 
at  Merton.  In  that  still  hour  Nelson  said  his 
farewells  to  the  woman  he  loved  and  the  home 
that  was  dear  to  him,  and  drove  off  into  the  dawn. 
Fears  and  trepidations  of  heart  he  must  have  had, 
as  all  have  who  love ;  the  pang  of  partings  is  always 
new  and  poignant.  But  happily  it  was  hidden 
from  his  knowledge  that  he  had  practically  reached 
the  end  of  his  dear  domestic  happiness,  that  the 
rest  of  his  life  held  but  a  bare  month  of  "  Paradise 
Merton  "  for  him,  though  many  months  at  sea. 

When  he  reached  Portsmouth  he  found  his 
feelings  reflected  in  his  surroundings.  "  Either 
my  ideas  are  altered,  or  Portsmouth,"  he  told 
Emma.  '  It  is  a  place,  the  picture  of  desolation 
and  misery,  but  perhaps  it  is  the  contrast  to  what 
I  have  been  used  to." 

For  the  first  time  he  hoisted  his  flag  in  the 
glorious  and  fatal  Victory — that  ship  so  im- 
perishably  linked  with  his  name.  He  was  very 

223 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

anxious  to  sail,  partly  to  escape  from  the  Ports- 
mouth he  found  so  dreary,  still  more  because  of 
the  patriotic  ardour  he  always  felt  to  serve  England 
in  time  of  need.  To  all  who  spoke  to  him  of  his 
sailing  the  day  before  he  said,  "  I  cannot  before 
to-morrow,  and  that's  an  age."  But  "  to-morrow" 
came,  and  on  the  20th  of  May  the  Naval  Chronicle 
said  :  "  This  morning,  about  ten  o'clock,  his  Lord- 
ship went  off  in  a  heavy  shower  of  rain,  and  sailed 
with  a  northerly  wind." 


224 


CHAPTER  XII:    THE  TWO  YEARS' 
SACRIFICE. 

AT  every  crisis  of  his  and  England's  life — 
for  they  beat  together — Nelson  proved 
himself  possessed  of  the  lofty  and  antique 
virtue  of  the  "  Happy  Warrior."  Viewed  in  its 
greatest  aspects,  ignoring  merely  the  one  failing 
which  to  Wordsworth  was  so  serious,  that  poem 
is  the  crystallisation  of  Nelson's  character  into 
its  imperishable  elements.  In  thus  leaving  his 
cherished  home,  so  willingly  and  yet  so  sadly,  at 
the  call  of  his  country,  Nelson  vanquished  a  greater 
pang  than  he  had  hitherto  battled  with.  It  was 
the  first  time  in  his  later  life  that  he  had  known 
the  "  homefelt  pleasures  "  and  the  "  gentle  scenes  " 
which  had  grown  so  dear  to  his  craving  heart. 
But  when  the  need  for  sacrifice  came 

"  such  fidelity 

It  is  his  darling  passion  to  approve  ; 
More  brave  for  this,  that  he  hath  much  to  love.'* 
In  act  he  was  perfect,  but  in  heart  he  could 
not  now  fully  practice  what  Codrington  said  he 
used  to  preach,  "  that  every  man  became  a  bachelor 
after  passing  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar."  It  was  no 
longer  true  that  "  Honour,  glory,  and  distinction 
were  the  whole  object  of  his  life  " — he  had  a  horizon 

225  Q 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

beyond  the  sea-rim,  and  a  hope  beyond  the  desire 
to  destroy  the  French ;  though  it  was  true,  as 
Codrington  said,  "  That  dear  domestic  happiness 
never  abstracted  his  attention."  How  fully  this 
was  the  case  is  proved  by  the  fact  that,  from  May, 
1803,  to  August,  1805,  he  set  foot  outside  his  flag- 
ship but  three  times;  none  of  those  three  times 
exceeded  an  hour,  and  even  those  brief  absences 
were  owing  to  unavoidable  needs  of  the  service. 
"  I  have  not  a  thought,"  he  told  Emma,  "  except 
on  you  and  the  French  fleet ;  all  my  thoughts, 
plans  and  toils  tend  to  those  two  objects."  His 
attitude  is  finely  and  simply  expressed  in  a  sentence 
of  this  time,  "  Whilst  I  serve,  I  will  serve  well, 
and  closely  ;  when  I  want  rest,  I  will  go  to  Merton." 
His  official  letters  to  official  personages  and  to 
brother  officers  give  one  side  of  his  thought — the 
other,  the  intimate,  tender  side,  is  revealed  in 
his  letters  to  Lady  Hamilton  and  near  friends. 
Now  that  Emma  was  left  a  widow  to  the  world 
she  was  more  closely  his.  How  he  believed  in  her, 
how  devoutly  he  admired  her  is  shown  constantly 
in  his  letters  to  her.  In  one  of  them  he  assures 
her,  "  In  short,  in  every  point  of  view,  from 
Ambassatrice  to  the  duties  of  domestic  life,  I 
never  saw  your  equal !  That  Elegance  of  manners, 
accomplishments,  and,  above  all,  your  goodness 
of  heart,  is  unparalleled."  In  earlier  years,  as 
Queen  Charlotte  never  would  receive  her,  Sir 
William  Hamilton  had  gone  to  Court  without  her 
— a  proceeding  of  which  Nelson,  of  course,  dis- 

226 


THE  TWO  YEARS'  SACRIFICE 

approved :  "  You  know  that  I  would  not,  in  Sir 
William's  case,  have  gone  to  Court  without  my 
wife,  and  such  a  wife,  never  to  be  matched.  It  is 
true  you  would  grace  a  Court  better  as  a  Queen 
than  a  visitor." 

Thus  perfection  gilded  all  her  faults  to  the 
love-blinded  eyes  of  Nelson,  and  that  merciful 
Trafalgar  bullet  saved  him  from  the  cruelty  of  dis- 
illusion, the  disillusion  which  surely  would  have 
come  with  longer  years. 

But  in  1803,  in  his  great  watch  off  Toulon,  each 
tender  and  happy  thought  was  for  Emma  and 
"  Paradise  Merton."  His  greatest  joys  were  her 
letters  with  all  their  diligent  gathering  of  gossip 
and  trifling  domestic  detail — for  she  was  a  good 
and  naturally  vivid  correspondent.  In  a  letter 
to  Alexander  Davison  of  that  same  autumn  the 
Admiral  says :  "I  send  a  little  parcel  for  Lady 
Hamilton,  directed  under  cover  to  you.  Pray, 
forward  it  to  Merton,  where  I  hope  my  dearest 
Lady  Hamilton  is  well,  comfortable,  and  happy. 
I  hope  next  summer  to  be  able  to  build  the  room, 
and  I  must  write  to  Linton  about  the  field,  which 
I  wish  to  have  to  make  the  new  entrance,  etc.,  etc., 
provided  she  stays  to  manage  the  improvements. 
I  will  admit  no  display  of  taste  at  Merton,  but  hers. 
She  bought  it,  and  I  hope  will  continue  to  improve 
and  beautify  it  to  the  day,  at  least,  of  my  death." 

Another  letter  of  this  time  shows  how  constant 
were  his  thoughts  of  Merton :  "  This  letter  will 
find  you  at  dear  Merton,"  he  writes,  "  where  we 

227 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

shall  one  day  meet,  and  be  truly  happy.  I  do 
not  think  it  can  be  a  long  war ;  and,  I  believe  it 
will  be  much  shorter  than  people  expect :  and  I 
shall  hope  to  find  the  new  room  built ;  the  grounds 
laid  out,  neatly  but  not  expensively  ;  new  Picca- 
dilly gates ;  kitchen  garden,  &c.  Only  let  us 
have  a  plan,  and  then  all  will  go  on  well.  It  will 
be  a  great  source  of  amusement  to  you ;  and 
Horatia  shall  plant  a  tree.  I  dare  say,  she  will 
be  very  busy.  Mrs.  Nelson,  or  Mrs.  Bolton,  &c. 
will  be  with  you ;  and  time  will  pass  away,  till 
I  have  the  inexpressible  happiness  of  arriving  at 
Merton.  Even  the  thought  of  it  vibrates  through 
my  nerves  ;  for,  my  love  for  you  is  unbounded 
as  the  ocean !  I  feel  all  your  good  mother's 
kindness  ;  and  I  trust  that  we  shall  turn  rich, 
by  being  economists.  Spending  money,  to  please 
a  pack  of  people,  is  folly  and  without  thanks." 

While  Nelson  was  at  sea  Lady  Hamilton  lived 
at  Merton,  varying  her  solitude  by  the  companion- 
ship of  the  Admiral's  relations  and  visits  to  them 
in  their  various  homes.  "  I  long  to  hear  of  your 
Norfolk  excursion,"  Nelson  wrote  to  her,  "  and 
everything  you  have  been  about,  for  I  am  ever 
most  warmly  interested  in  your  actions."  While 
Nelson  was  still  absent  Emma  paid  a  second  visit 
to  his  natal  county  of  Norfolk,  staying  at  Braden- 
ham  Hall  with  the  Boltons.  "In  or  about  the 
year  1804,"  says  Sir  Henry  Rider  Haggard,  "  Mrs. 
Bolton,  who  was  Nelson's  sister,  and  her  husband 
hired  Bradenham,  my  brother's  house,  where  I 

228 


THE  TWO  YEARS'  SACRIFICE 

was  born,  and  here  Lady  Hamilton  used  to  visit 
them.  Indeed,  there  is  a  large  cupboard  hi  the 
Red  Room  that  was  dedicated  to  her  dresses, 
whereof  the  exceeding  splendours  are  still  recorded 
in  the  traditions  of  the  village.  At  that  time  a  man 
of  the  name  of  Canham,  whom  I  knew  well  in 
his  age,  was  page  boy  at  the  Hall,  and  more  than 
once  has  he  talked  to  me  of  Horatia  and  Lady 
Hamilton,  the  former  of  whom  he  described  as  a 
4  white  little  slip  of  a  thing.'  ....  After  Nelson's 
death  all  his  sea-going  belongings  were  sent  to 
Bradenham  ;  a  piece  of  mahogany  furniture  from 
his  cabin  still  stands  in  one  of  the  bedrooms."  * 

In  the  spring  of  1804  Nelson  and  Emma's  second 
child  was  born.  It  was  again  a  girl,  and  before 
its  arrival  Nelson  had  written  to  the  expectant 
mother,  "  Call  him  what  you  please ;  if  a  girl, 
Emma."  So  Emma  the  baby  was  named,  but 
she  only  lived  a  very  short  time,  disappearing  so 
soon  that  she  made  no  impress  on  the  heart  of 
her  mother  and  her  father  never  saw  her.  But 
the  loss  of  this  child  probably  quickened  their 
feeling  that  it  was  impossible  to  leave  Horatia 
any  longer  to  alien  care,  that  she  must  come  under 
the  Merton  rooftree — though  still  she  could  not 
come  as  the  acknowledged  daughter  of  that  house. 
So,  to  explain  her  presence  there,  Nelson  wrote 
Lady  Hamilton  in  the  summer  of  1804  a  letter 
which  was  evidently  intended  for  public  perusal : 

"  I  am  now  going  to  state  a  thing  to  you  and 

*A  Farmer's  Year. 

229 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

to  request  your  kind  assistance,  which,  from  my 
dear  Emma's  goodness  of  heart,  I  am  sure  of  her 
acquiescence  in.  Before  we  left  Italy  I  told  you 
of  the  extraordinary  circumstance  of  a  child 
being  left  to  my  care  and  protection.  On  your 
first  coming  to  England  I  presented  you  the  child, 
dear  Horatia.  You  became,  to  my  comfort, 
attached  to  it,  so  did  Sir  William,  thinking  her  the 
finest  child  he  had  ever  seen.  She  is  become  of 
that  age  when  it  is  necessary  to  remove  her  from 
a  mere  nurse  and  to  think  of  educating  her  .  .  . 
I  am  now  anxious  for  the  child's  being  placed 
under  your  protecting  whig." 

Thus  was  the  "  Thompson "  fiction  changed 
to  suit  changed  circumstances.  Written  on  an 
enclosure  for  Emma's  eye  alone  was  the  exclama- 
tion, "  My  beloved,  how  I  feel  for  your  situation 
and  that  of  our  dear  Horatia,  our  dear  child." 

So  soon  as  the  plan  of  having  Horatia  at  Merton 
was  established,  Nelson's  loving  and  anxious 
mind,  so  feminine  in  some  of  its  aspects,  began 
to  foresee  and  guard  against  dangers  for  the  child. 
To  her  mother  he  wrote,  "  I  also  beg,  as  my  dear 
Horatia  is  to  be  at  Merton,  that  a  strong  netting, 
about  three  feet  high,  may  be  placed  round  the 
Nile,  that  the  little  thing  may  not  tumble  in  ; 
and,  then,  you  may  have  ducks  again  in  it.  I 
forget,  at  what  place  we  saw  the  netting  ;  and 
either  Mr.  Perry  or  Mr.  Goldsmith,  told  us  where 
it  was  to  be  bought.  I  shall  be  very  anxious 
until  I  know  this  is  done."  Again  he  writes, 

230 


THE  TWO  YEARS'  SACRIFICE 

"  Only  take  care  that  my  darling  does  not  fall  in, 
and  get  drowned.  I  begged  you  to  get  the  little 
netting  along  the  edge,  and,  particularly,  on  the 
bridges."  He  bought  a  gold  watch  through 
Falconet  of  Naples  and  sent  it  to  Horatia,  re- 
membering how  she  had  liked  to  listen  to  his  own  ; 
he  sent  her  books  of  Spanish  dresses ;  but  his 
indulgence  stopped  short  at  a  dog,  probably 
thinking  there  might  be  some  danger  to  the  child 
from  such  an  animal :  "I  would  not  have  Horatia 
think  of  a  dog.  I  shall  not  bring  her  one ;  and, 
I  am  sure,  she  is  better  without  a  pet  of  that  sort. 
But  she  is  like  her  mother,  would  get  all  the  old 
dogs  in  the  place  about  her."  His  thoughts  of  his 
baby  daughter  are  constant :  "  Everything  you 
tell  me  about  my  dear  Horatia  charms  me,"  he 
tells  Lady  Hamilton,  "  I  think  I  see  her,  hear  her, 
and  admire  her."  In  a  letter  to  his  niece,  Char- 
lotte Nelson,  who  was  a  constant  inmate  of  Merton 
at  this  time,  Nelson  says  he  is  "  truly  sensible  " 
of  her  attachment  to  "  that  dear  little  orphan, 
Horatia."  He  bursts  out  with  sudden  passion, 
"  Although  her  parents  are  lost,  yet  she  is  not 
without  a  fortune  :  and,  I  shall  cherish  her  to 
the  last  moment  of  my  life ;  and  curse  them 
who  curse  her,  and  Heaven  bless  them  who  bless 
her  !  " 

After  Horatia  and  her  mother,  Merton  was 
Nelson's  dearest  interest,  and  he  followed  from  his 
distant  flagship  every  little  improvement  there, 
though  he  warned  Emma  Hamilton  in  a  letter  of 

231 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

March,  1804,  "  We  need  be  great  economists,  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  and  carry  on  the  little 
improvements."  Emma  never  was  a  "  great 
economist,"  and  evidently  Nelson  was  slightly 
alarmed  at  the  expenses  she  was  plunging  into, 
for  hi  the  same  letter  he  goes  on :  "I  would  not 
have  you  lay  out  more  than  is  necessary,  at  Merton. 
The  rooms,  and  the  new  entrance,  will  take  a 
great  deal  of  money.  The  entrance  by  the  corner 
I  would  have  certainly  done  ;  a  common  white 
gate  will  do  for  the  present ;  and  one  of  the 
cottages,  which  is  in  the  barn,  can  be  put  up,  as 
a  temporary  lodge.  The  road  can  be  made  to  a 
temporary  bridge  ;  for  that  part  of  the  Nile,  one 
day,  shall  be  filled  up.  Downing' s  canvas  awning 
will  do  for  a  passage.  For  the  winter,  the  carriage 
can  be  put  in  the  barn;  and,  giving  up  Mr.  Bennett's 
premises,  will  save  fifty  pounds  a  year :  and, 
another  year,  we  can  fit  up  the  coach-house  and 
stables,  which  are  in  the  barn.  The  foot-path 
should  be  turned.  I  did  show  Mr.  Haslewood 
the  way  I  wished  it  done." 

Then,  perhaps,  fearing  Emma  would  not  appre- 
ciate these  unaccustomed  economies,  he  adds : 
'  Your  good,  angelic  heart,  my  dearest  beloved 
Emma,  will  fully  agree  with  me,  everything  is 
very  expensive  ;  and,  even  we  find  it,  and  will 
be  obliged  to  economise,  if  we  assist  our  friends  : 
and,  I  am  sure,  we  shall  feel  more  comfort  in  it 
than  in  loaded  tables,  and  entertaining  a  set  of 
people  who  care  not  for  us."  He  assures  her, 

232 


THE  TWO  YEARS'  SACRIFICE 

"  All  my  hopes  are,  to  see  you,  and  be  happy, 
at  dear  Merton,  again." 

And  all  this  while  that  he  was  so  tender  and 
thoughtful  for  his  loved  ones  at  home,  Nelson  was 
struggling  with  his  own  ailments  and  disappoint- 
ments at  sea.  He  was  sick — as  he  reminded  Emma, 
he  was  never  well  when  it  blew,  and  yet  he  was 
enduring  summer  and  winter  gales  without  respite 
—his  one  eye  pained  him,  he  was  neuralgic,  his 
side  was  swelled,  he  felt  the  blood  gushing  up  one 
side  of  his  head.  It  seemed  that  he  had  every 
imaginable  minor  physical  misery,  as  well  as  se- 
paration, to  bear.  To  his  brother-in-law,  George 
Matcham,  he  wrote  :  "  Although  I  have  not  been 
ill,  yet  the  constant  anxiety  I  have  experienced 
has  shook  my  weak  frame,  and  my  rings  will 
hardly  keep  upon  my  finger  ;  and  what  grieves  me 
more  than  all  is  that  I  can  every  month  perceive 
a  visible  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression) 
loss  of  sight ;  a  few  years  must,  as  I  have  always 
predicted,  render  me  blind.  I  have  often  heard 
that  Blind  people  are  cheerful,  but  I  think  I  shall 
take  it  to  heart."  But  in  spite  of  these  griefs  his 
characteristic  spirit  shines  in  one  of  his  letters  of 
this  time  to  Emma  :  "  Government  have  reposed 
great  confidence  in  me,  and  I  hope  my  conduct 
will  meet  their  approbation ;  but,  my  dear  friend, 
after  all,  this  almost  boasting — what  is  man  ?  a 
child  of  the  day, — and  you  will  scarcely  credit, 
after  all  I  have  wrote,  that  the  Medical  gentlemen 
are  wanting  to  survey  me,  and  to  send  me  to 

233 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Bristol  for  the  re-establishment  of  my  health ;  but, 
whatever  happens,  I  have  run  a  glorious  race." 

When  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  conveyed  to 
Mm  the  thanks  of  the  Corporation  for  his  services 
in  "  blockading "  Toulon,  Nelson  answered,  "  I 
beg  to  inform  your  lordship  that  the  port  of 
Toulon  has  never  been  blockaded  by  me — quite 
the  reverse — every  opportunity  has  been  offered 
the  enemy  to  put  to  sea,  for  it  is  there  that  we 
hope  to  realise  the  hopes  and  expectations  of  our 
country,  and  I  trust  that  they  will  not  be  dis- 
appointed." 

"  This  is  an  odd  war,"  Nelson  exclaimed  during 
this  long  waiting,  "  not  a  battle  !  " 

But  hi  January,  1805,  the  waiting  came  to  an 
end — the  French  fleet  at  last  put  to  sea,  and  Nelson, 
"  in  a  fever,"  went  to  Egypt  after  them  and  missed 
them ;  he  returned  disconsolate  to  find  they  had 
put  back  into  Toulon,  much  battered  by  storms 
after  all  their  harbour-keeping.  And  then  the 
Toulon  fleet  broke  out  again  and  made  for  the 
West  Indies,  with  Nelson  following  after.  His  one 
cry  was,  "  God  send  I  may  find  them  !  "  but  there 
he  failed,  though  his  long,  close  chase  made  it 
impossible  for  Villeneuve  to  do  anything  save  fly. 
Jamaica  was  saved,  the  sugar  ships  were  saved, 
and,  driven  like  sheep  by  England's  Admiral,  the 
French  fleet  fled  back  to  Europe,  where  they  were 
met  by  Sir  Robert  Calder  off  Cape  Finisterre. 
After  a  partial  fleet  action,  Villeneuve  put  into 
Vigo,  and  from  there  retreated  to  Cadiz.  Nelson's 

234 


LORD   VISCOUNT    XELSOX. 
Frnm  au  Aquatint  l>y  Thomas  Teyr/,  1S07. 


THE  TWO  YEARS'  SACRIFICE 

vigilance,  though  it  had  not  won  the  battle  he  was 
thirsting  for,  had  quite  upset  Napoleon's  sea-plans 
and  dislocated  his  huge  combinations.  Once  more 
the  dread  threat  of  invasion  had  come  to  naught 
because  of  those  "  far-distant,  storm-beaten  ships  " 
of  Nelson's.  At  last,  after  his  long  vigil,  his  long 
sacrifice  of  his  dearest  pleasures,  Nelson  was  free 
to  return  to  "  dear  England,  and  a  thousand  times 
dearer  Merton."  Nearly  a  year  before  his  return, 
on  the  last  birthday  but  one  he  was  to  know,  he 
had  written  to  Emma,  "  Forty-six  years  of  toil 
and  trouble  !  How  few  more,  the  common  lot  of 
mankind  leads  us  to  expect ;  and,  therefore,  it  is 
almost  time  to  think  of  spending  the  few  last  years 
in  peace  and  quietness." 

The  "  few  last  years "  were  nearer  than  he 
thought,  the  "  peace  and  quietness "  were  to 
narrow  themselves  down  to  a  scanty  month  when 
Nelson  came  home  to  Merton  for  the  last  time  in 
August,  1805. 


235 


CHAPTER  XIII :  THE  LAST  LANDFALL. 

IT  was  "  just  two  years  and  three  months," 
as  Nelson  himself  said,  since  he  had  seen 
Portsmouth  and  set  foot  upon  the  Hard 
that  welcomes  the  returning  sailor.  He  was  the 
greatest  sailor  who  had  ever  set  forth  from  or 
returned  to  Portsmouth,  and  the  people  knew  it 
even  in  his  lifetime.  When  the  Victory's  flag  was 
seen,  crowds  flocked  to  behold  him,  and  as  his  barge 
pulled  to  the  shore  he  was  saluted  with  continued 
cheering  and  huzzas.  There  is  no  evidence,  that 
Nelson  was  attached  to  Portsmouth ;  smaller, 
and  red-roofed  as  it  would  appear  to  have  been 
then,  enclosed  by  ramparts  and  drawbridges,  it 
was  not  an  attractive  town.  Certainly  it  had 
nothing  to  offer  to  detain  the  Admiral ;  he  would 
not  even  stay  the  night  there,  late  as  his  flag  was 
hauled  down,  but  set  off  immediately  along  the 
Portsmouth  Road  for  Merton,  the  goal  of  all  his 
hopes.  As  he  had  left  Merton  in  the  early  hours 
of  the  morning,  so  in  the  early  hours  he  returned 
again — his  postchaise  and  smoking  horses  arriving 
at  the  Merton  gateway  in  the  morning  of  August 
20th. 

There  he  found  the  welcome  of  his  heart  from 
Emma  Hamilton  and  the  little  stout  and  dark-eyed 

236 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

child  Horatia.  There  also  he  found  many  members 
of  his  family  assembled  to  greet  him,  and  more 
on  their  way,  travelling  from  east  and  west  to  the 
magnet  of  his  presence.  He  was  the  most  famous 
and  the  most  adored  man  in  England,  though  he 
had  failed  to  meet  the  French.  "  Oh  !  say  how 
he  looks,  and  talks,  and  eats,  and  sleeps,"  cries 
one  of  Lady  Hamilton's  feminine  correspondents 
at  this  time,  "  Never  was  there  a  man  come  back 
so  enthusiastically  revered.  Look  at  the  ideas  that 
pervade  the  mind  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  this 
morning's  post.  Timid  spinsters  and  widows  are 
terrified  at  his  foot  being  on  shore  "  —for  fear,  that 
is,  lest  Buonaparte  should  take  the  happy  op- 
portunity to  cross  the  "  ruffled  strip  of  salt." 

On  this  very  day  of  his  return  to  Merton  he  was 
visited  by  a  Danish  gentleman,  who  describes 
Nelson  as  appearing  "  with  flowing  locks  and  in  full 
uniform."  He  continues  :  "  On  the  20th  of  August 
1805, 1  enjoyed  the  honour  of  an  interview  with  the 
gallant  Admiral.  In  the  balcony  I  observed  a 
number  of  ladies  who  I  understood  to  be  Lord 
Nelson's  relations  ;  entering  the  house,  I  passed 
through  a  lobby,  which,  among  a  variety  of  paint- 
ings and  other  works  of  art,  contained  a  marble 
bust  of  the  illustrious  Admiral.  Here  I  met  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Nelson  .  .  .  and  was  ushered  into  a 
magnificent  apartment.  Chairs  having  been  pro- 
vided, the  Admiral  sat  down  between  Lady  Ham- 
ilton and  myself,  and  having  laid  my  account  of 
the  battle  of  Copenhagen  on  his  knee  an  interesting 

237 


conversation  ensued.  His  Lordship  then  con- 
ducted me  upstairs  and  showed  me  a  print  of  our 
Crown  Prince,  and  of  the  battle  of  Copenhagen. 
Lord  Nelson  was  of  middle  stature,  a  thin  body, 
and  apparently  of  delicate  constitution.  The 
lines  of  his  face  were  hard,  but  the  penetration  of 
his  eye  threw  a  kind  of  light  upon  his  countenance 
which  tempered  its  severity.  His  aspect  com- 
manded the  utmost  veneration,  especially  when  he 
looked  upwards." 

Naturally  at  this  time  of  crisis,  when  the  French 
at  sea  were  not  beaten,  only  baffled,  Nelson  had 
to  spend  some  of  his  precious  leisure  in  London 
considering  naval  affairs  with  his  Majesty's  minis- 
ters. He  complained,  "  I  am  now  set  up  for  a 
Conjuror,  and  God  knows  they  will  very  soon  find 
out  I  am  far  from  being  one,  I  was  asked  my 
opinion,  against  my  inclination,  for  if  I  make  one 
wrong  guess  the  charm  will  be  broken."  But 
important  as  he  knew  himself  to  be  to  the  country 
and  the  Navy,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  ask 
favours,  even  though  it  was  so  small  a  one  as  an 
appointment  in  the  Customs  for  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  Bolton :  "  Although  I  have  seen  Mr. 
Pitt,"  he  wrote  to  George  Rose,  "  yet  at  a  time 
when  he  is  pleased  to  think  that  my  services  may 
be  wanted,  I  could  not  bring  my  mouth  to  ask  a 
favour,  therefore  I  beg  it  may  pass  through  you." 
Regarding  an  earlier  request  than  this,  Mr.  Rose 
replied,  "  I  repeated  to  Mr.  Pitt  all  you  said  to 
me.  He  is  deeply  sensible  of  your  zeal,  goodness, 

238 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

and  confidence  in  him.     He  talked  of  riding  over 
to  Merton  to  thank  you." 

Nelson's  old  friend,  Prince  William  Henry, 
Duke  of  Clarence,  had  already  been  over  to  Merton 
and  dined  there.  Another  acquaintance,  William 
Beckford,  of  Fonthill,  had  written  requesting  the 
honour  of  a  visit  in  Wiltshire,  and  to  him  Nelson 
replied  :  "  Nothing  could  give  me  more  pleasure 
than  paying  my  respects  at  Fonthill,  but  I  cannot 
move  at  present,  as  all  my  family  are  with  me,  and 
my  stay  is  very  uncertain  ;  and,  besides,  I  have 
refused  for  the  present  all  invitations."  So  his 
friends  had  to  go  and  see  him.  "  I  went  to  Merton 
on  Saturday,"  wrote  Lord  Minto,  "  and  found 
Nelson  just  sitting  down  to  dinner,  surrounded  by 
a  family  party,  of  his  brother  the  Dean,  Mrs. 
Nelson,  their  children,  and  the  children  of  a  sister. 
Lady  Hamilton  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and 
Mother  Cadogan  at  the  bottom.  I  had  a  hearty 
welcome.  He  looks  remarkably  well  and  full  of 
spirits.  His  conversation  is  a  cordial  in  these  low 
times.  Lady  Hamilton  has  improved  and  added 
to  the  house  extremely  well,  without  his  knowing 
she  was  about  it.  He  found  it  already  done. 
She  is  a  clever  being,  after  all :  the  passion  is  as 
hot  as  ever."  No  wonder  that  Merton  was  too 
dear  to  be  left  needlessly,  especially  when  it  was 
graced  by  the  presence  of  his  favourite  sister 
Catherine,  with  her  husband  George  Matcham 
and  her  son,  by  his  other  sister  Susanna  Bolton 
with  her  husband  and  two  daughters,  Ann  and 

239 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

Eliza,  by  Dr.  Nelson  with  his  wife  and  children, 
Horace  and  Charlotte.  Such  a  family  gathering 
of  sisters  and  brothers  and  nephews  and  nieces 
delighted  the  generous  heart  of  Nelson.  He 
called  his  nephews  his  "  props,"  and  certainly 
designed  that  the  eldest  son  of  his  brother  William, 
who  was  next  heir  to  his  title,  should  marry  the 
little  Horatia  whose  future  was  a  considerable 
anxiety  to  him,  in  case  of  his  own  death. 

The  idea  that  his  life  would  not  be  long  seems 
to  have  been  with  him  during  these  last  weeks  of 
home  peace  before  Trafalgar.  One  day,  when  he 
and  his  sister  Catherine  ran  across  one  another  in 
London,  where  she  was  up  probably  for  a  day's 
shopping — for  Merton  was  only  one  hour's  drive 
from  Hyde  Park — and  he  engaged  on  more  serious 
matters,  she  remarked  anxiously  on  his  look  of 
weariness  and  depression.  "  Ah  !  Katty,  Katty, 
that  Gipsy,"  he  said  forebodingly — a  gipsy  had 
on  one  occasion  told  his  fortune,  and  at  the  year 
of  1805  stopped  short,  declaring,  "  I  can  see  no 
further." 

Not  only  hi  his  own  feelings,  but  in  the  peculiarly 
marked  expressions  of  tenderness  and  veneration 
that  the  common  people  showed  him  during  this 
short  stay  in  England  may  be  felt  some  fore- 
boding that  dimly  guessed  at  Trafalgar.  For  long 
that  worn  and  indomitable  figure  had  stood  like 
an  unsheathed  sword  between  the  people  of 
England  and  their  relentless  foe — in  his  single  name 
and  person  he  had  become  the  symbol  of  their 

240 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

dumb  defiance  and  courage  and  endurance  under 
the  weight  of  war.  He  had  won  victories  in  far 
seas,  he  had  guarded  their  very  coasts ;  he  was 
known  as  lovable  as  brave.  No  man's  heart 
but  thrilled  to  his  name,  no  woman's  but  softened 
to  his  weakness  and  his  sufferings,  so  visible  in  his 
face.  "  Times  of  much  doing  are  times  of  much 
suffering,"  as  Fuller  knew.  Therefore  the  people 
followed  him  and  blessed  him  before  he  came  to 
die.  "  Lord  Nelson  arrived  a  few  days  ago," 
wrote  Radstock.  "  He  was  received  in  town  al- 
most as  a  conqueror,  and  was  followed  round  by 
the  people  with  huzzas.  So  much  for  a  great  and 
good  name  most  nobly  and  deservedly  acquired." 
His  old  friend  Lord  Minto  said,  "  I  met  Nelson  in 
a  mob  in  Piccadilly,  and  got  hold  of  his  arm,  so 
that  I  was  mobbed  too.  It  is  really  quite  affecting 
to  see  the  wonder  and  admiration,  and  love  and 
respect  of  the  whole  world ;  and  the  genuine 
expression  of  all  these  sentiments  at  once,  from 
gentle  and  simple,  the  moment  he  is  seen.  It  is 
beyond  anything  represented  in  a  play  or  in  a 
poem  of  fame."  And  amongst  all  these  people 
there  was  one  quiet  observer,  who  after  Nelson's 
death,  was  to  write  to  a  friend,  "  Wasn't  you  sorry 
for  Lord  Nelson  ?  I  have  followed  him  in  fancy 
ever  since  I  saw  him  walking  in  Pall  Mall  (I  was 
prejudiced  against  him  before),  looking  just  as 
a  Hero  should  look  ;  and  I  have  been  very  much 
cut  about  it  indeed.  He  was  the  only  pretence 
of  a  Great  Man  we  had."  Thus  Charles  Lamb, 

241  R 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

whose  name  had  never  struck  on  Nelson's  ear,  and 
yet  we  like  to  think  of  the  gentle  Elia  following 
the  Hero  in  fancy  and  musing  in  his  restricted 
days  on  the  life  so  far  removed  from  his  own. 

Lamb  saw  Nelson  but  that  once  in  Pall  Mall. 
Wellington,  the  great  military  hero  of  the  time 
to  come,  also  saw  Nelson  but  once,  though  as  he 
talked  with  him  as  well  he  has  left  a  fuller  record 
behind — a  record  which  must  be  quoted  as  it 
reveals  some  of  those  curious  contradictory  qualities 
in  Nelson  which  were  at  times  so  baffling  to  the 
Admiral's  admirers.  Thirty  years  after  Nelson's 
death  John  Wilson  Croker  and  the  Duke  were 
talking  at  Walmer  of  Nelson,  and  "  some  instances 
were  mentioned  of  the  egotism  and  vanity  that 
derogated  from  his  character  "  : 

"  Why,"  said  Wellington,  "  I  am  not  surprised 
at  such  instances,  for  Lord  Nelson  was,  in  different 
circumstances,  two  quite  different  men,  as  I  myself 
can  vouch,  though  I  only  saw  him  once  in  my  life, 
and  for,  perhaps,  an  hour.  It  was  soon  after  I 
returned  from  India.  I  went  to  the  Colonial 
Office  in  Downing  Street,  and  there  I  was  shown 
into  the  little  waiting  room  on  the  right  hand, 
where  I  found,  also  waiting  to  see  the  Secretary 
of  State,  a  gentleman,  whom,  from  his  likeness 
to  his  pictures  and  the  loss  of  an  arm,  I  imme- 
diately recognised  as  Lord  Nelson.  He  could  not 
know  who  I  was,  but  he  entered  at  once  into 
conversation  with  me,  if  I  can  call  it  conversation, 
for  it  was  almost  all  on  his  side  and  all  about 

242 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

himself,  and  in,  really,  a  style  so  vain  and  silly 
as  to  surprise  and  almost  disgust  me.  I  suppose 
something  that  I  happened  to  say  may  have  made 
him  guess  that  I  was  somebody,  and  he  went  out 
of  the  room  for  a  moment,  I  have  no  doubt  to  ask 
the  office-keeper  who  I  was,  for  when  he  came  back 
he  was  altogether  a  different  man,  both  in  manner 
and  matter.  All  that  I  had  thought  a  charlatan 
style  had  vanished,  and  he  talked  of  the  state  of 
this  country  and  of  the  aspect  and  probabilities 
of  affairs  on  the  Continent  with  good  sense,  and 
a  knowledge  of  subjects  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
that  surprised  me  equally  and  more  agreeably  than 
the  first  part  of  our  interview  had  done ;  in  fact, 
he  talked  like  an  officer  and  a  statesman.  The 
Secretary  of  State  kept  us  long  waiting,  and  cer- 
tainly, for  the  last  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
I  don't  know  that  I  ever  had  a  conversation  that 
interested  me  more.  Now,  if  the  Secretary  of 
State  had  been  punctual,  and  admitted  Lord 
Nelson  in  the  first  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  should  have 
had  the  same  impression  of  a  light  and  trivial 
character  that  other  people  have  had  ;  but  luckily 
I  saw  enough  to  be  satisfied  that  he  was  really  a 
very  superior  man." 

Wellington  was  peculiarly  unfitted  by  tempera- 
ment to  understand  the  volatile,  passionate,  and 
childish  qualities  in  Nelson's  nature — that  in- 
genuous boasting  which  at  times  he  displayed  and 
which  was  an  endearing  trait  to  those  who  loved 
him,  could  meet  with  no  response  from  he  who  was 

243 


to  be  known  so  fittingly  in  later  years  as  the  Iron 
Duke.  Wellington's  somewhat  grudging  tribute 
to  the  Admiral's  statesmanship  is  borne  out  by 
Pitt,  who  said  that  Nelson  was  as  great  a  statesman 
as  he  was  a  warrior.  The  intercourse  between 
Pitt  and  Nelson  during  these  last  few  weeks,  when 
both  were  within  such  measurable  distance  of 
their  deaths,  was  closer  than  it  had  ever  been. 
Nelson  was  both  touched  and  flattered  by  Pitt's 
consideration,  who,  he  said,  was  kind  and  cordial 
to  him  in  the  greatest  degree  and  gave  him  as  full 
honour  as  though  he  had  caught  and  beaten  the 
French  fleet.  On  one  of  these  visits  to  the  Prime 
Minister  he  was  particularly  pleased  because  Pitt 
paid  him  the  compliment  of  attending  him  to  the 
door.  In  one  of  his  letters  Nelson  quotes  some  of 
his  own  remarks  to  Pitt :  "I  told  him  I  had  not 
been  bred  in  courts,  and  could  not  pretend  to  a  nice 
discrimination  between  the  use  and  abuse  of 
parties,  and,  therefore,  I  must  not  be  expected 
to  range  myself  under  the  political  banners  of  any 
man,  in  place  or  out  of  place  :  that  England's 
welfare  was  the  object  of  my  pursuit ;  and 
where  the  tendency  of  any  measure  to  pro- 
mote or  defeat  that  object  seemed  clear,  I  should 
vote  accordingly,  without  regard  to  other  cir- 
cumstances :  that  in  matters  where  my  judgment 
wavered,  or  to  the  full  scope  of  which  I  might 
feel  unequal,  I  should  be  silent ;  as  I  could  not 
reconcile  to  my  mind  giving  a  vote  without  full 
conviction  of  its  propriety."  In  answer  to  this 

244 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

Pitt  said  he  wished  every  officer  held  the  same 
sentiments. 

Nelson's  friend,  George  Rose,  at  this  time 
much  wished  he  would  sit  for  his  portrait  to  an 
artist  named  Edridge,  "  who  has  taken  a  most 
remarkably  strong  likeness  of  Mr.  Pitt,  in  small 
whole-length.  I  should  delight  in  having  such 
a  one  of  your  Lordship."  But  there  was  to  be  no 
leisure  in  these  hurried  days  for  such  sittings, 
though  one  little  sketch  of  his  head  was  taken  at 
Merton  by  John  Whichelo — a  beautiful  and  illu- 
minating sketch,  left  profile,  like  the  earlier  one 
of  De  Koster's,  and  having  about  it  just  that 
touch  of  idealising  grace  which  befits  the  last 
portrait  taken  of  the  hero  as  a  living  man.  About 
it,  about  the  deep-set  eye  and  the  firm  but  drooping 
mouth,  there  is  a  noble  sadness  of  look,  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  burden  of  a  great  destiny.  In  his 
expression  is  patience  and  solemnity,  all  fretfulness 
and  excitability  have  departed.  Here  is  Nelson 
in  the  last  hours  of  his  life,  bearing  in  every  line 
of  his  face  the  record  of  what  he  had  endured  for 
England,  of  a  heart  that  grieved,  but  a  courage 
that  was  steadfast  through  all. 

Very  soon  the  call  of  his  country,  which  Nelson 
was  expecting,  came  to  him.  At  five  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  September  2nd,  Captain  Blackwood— 
who  had  just  arrived  with  the  news  that  the 
Combined  Fleets  had  put  into  Cadiz — came  to 
Merton.  He  found  the  Admiral,  who  was  an 
early  riser  when  in  good  health,  already  up  and 

245 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

dressed,  with  some  prescience,  as  it  might  seem, 
of  the  tidings.  "  I  am  sure  you  bring  me  news  of 
the  French  and  Spanish  Fleets,"  he  said  to  Black- 
wood,  "  and  I  think  I  shall  yet  have  to  beat  them." 
He  followed  Captain  Blackwood  to  London,  where 
at  the  Admiralty  Lord  Barham,  the  First  Lord, 
told  him  to  choose  the  officers  he  would  like  to 
have  under  his  command.  "  Choose  them  your- 
self," said  Nelson ;  "  the  same  spirit  animates  the 
whole  Navy,  you  cannot  go  wrong."  A  very 
triumphant  statement,  for  it  was  his  own  spirit 
that  animated  the  Navy,  his  spirit  that  he  had 
instilled  into  all  the  officers  and  men  who  came 
within  the  magic  of  his  influence. 

Harrison,  who  was  inspired  by  Lady  Hamilton's 
eloquent  and  not  always  accurate  imagination, 
gives  what  he  calls  a  "  true  history  "  of  Nelson's 
manner  of  offering  his  services  at  this  crisis.  When 
Captain  Blackwood  arrived  with  his  news  Nelson 
showed  no  inclination  to  move  from  his  home. 
"  Let  the  man  trudge  it  who  has  lost  his  budget," 
he  remarked  with  apparent  gaiety.  But  as  he 
was  pacing  one  of  the  garden  walks  at  Merton, 
always  called  by  him  the  Quarter-deck,  Lady 
Hamilton  came  to  him  and  said  that  she  perceived 
he  was  uneasy.  "  No  !  "  said  Nelson ;  "  I  am  as 
happy  as  possible."  Adding  that  "  he  saw  himself 
surrounded  by  his  family ;  that  he  found  his 
health  better  since  he  had  been  at  Merton ;  and, 
that  he  would  not  give  a  sixpence  to  call  the  King 
his  uncle."  Emma,  however,  declared  that  she 

246 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

did  not  believe  him  and  knew  he  was  dying  to  get 
at  the  French  and  Spanish  Fleets,  which  were  the 
price  and  reward  of  his  long  watching,  adding, 
"  Nelson,  however  we  may  lament  your  absence, 
and  your  so  speedily  leaving  us,  offer  your  services, 
immediately,  to  go  off  Cadiz  ;  they  will  be  ac- 
cepted, and  you  will  gain  a  quiet  heart  by  it. 
You  will  have  a  glorious  Victory,  and,  then,  *you 
may  come  here  and  be  happy."  Then,  on  Harri- 
son's authority,  Nelson  answered  with  tears  in 
his  eyes,  "  Brave  Emma  !  good  Emma  !  if  there 
were  more  Emmas,  there  would  be  more  Nelsons  ; 
you  have  penetrated  my  thoughts.  I  wish  all 
you  say,  but  was  afraid  to  trust  even  myself  with 
reflecting  on  the  subject." 

That  Nelson  needed  a  woman's  word  to  urge 
him  to  his  duty  is  a  thing  we  never  can  believe, 
though  he  may  have  found  encouragement  in  it, 
and  would  certainly  praise  Emma  handsomely  for 
any  courage  she  displayed.  But  instead  of  shrink- 
ing from  his  duty,  Nelson's  attitude  is  finely  shown 
in  his  letter  to  Davison  at  this  time :  "I  will 
do  my  best,  and  I  hope  God  Almighty  will  go  with 
me.  I  have  much  to  lose  and  little  to  gain :  and 
I  go  because  it  is  right,  and  will  serve  my  country 
faithfully." 

We  see  Emma  Hamilton  less  as  heroine  (a  part 
she  always  coveted)  and  more  as  woman  in  her 
letter  to  Lady  Bolton,  the  Admiral's  niece,  "  I  am 
again  broken-hearted,  as  our  dear  Nelson  is 
immediately  going.  It  seems  as  though  I  have 

247 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

had  a  fortnight's  dream,  and  am  awoke  to  all  the 
misery  of  this  cruel  separation.  But  what  can  I 
do  ?  His  powerful  arm  is  of  so  much  consequence 
to  his  Country." 

Instantly  the  peace  of  Merton  was  turned  into 
the  restlessness  of  preparation.  "All  my  things 
are  this  day  going  off  for  Portsmouth,"  wrote 
Nelson  on  September  5th,  only  three  days  after 
Captain  Black  wood's  arrival  with  the  fateful  news. 
Busy  and  crowded  were  those  days  and  the  few 
that  followed  them  before  Nelson  started  on  his 
last  English  journey.  He  had  many  preparations 
and  arrangements  to  make,  he  had  old  friends  to  see 
and  say  farewell  to.  One  of  these  old  friends  was 
Lord  Sidmouth,  on  whom  in  August  Nelson  had 
called  ;  "  Surprised  me,"  said  Sidmouth,  "  without 
a  coat,  having  just  undergone  the  operation  of 
bleeding.  He  looked  well,  and  we  passed  an 
hour  together."  On  the  eve  of  Nelson's  departure 
Lord  Sidmouth  wrote  to  say  that  he  would  call 
to  see  him  at  Merton  if  he  could  not  take  Richmond 
Park  on  his  way  to  town.  As  Sidmouth  had  been 
ill,  Nelson  wrote  on  September  8th,  "  On  Tuesday 
forenoon,  if  superior  powers  do  not  prevent  me, 
I  will  be  in  Richmond  Park,  and  shall  be  glad  to 
take  you  by  the  hand,  and  to  wish  you  a  most 
perfect  restoration  to  health."  "  Lord  Nelson 
came  on  that  day,"  wrote  Sidmouth,  "  and  passed 
some  hours  at  Richmond  Park.  This  was  our  last 
meeting."  During  this  visit  Nelson  explained 
to  his  host  how  he  proposed  to  attack  the  Combined 

248 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

Fleets,  should  he  meet  them,  drawing  a  plan  with 
his  finger  "  on  the  little  study  table."  "  Rodney 
broke  the  line  in  one  point,"  said  Nelson,  "  I  will 
break  it  in  two." 

Thus,  five  weeks  before  his  death,  he  set  forth 
what  he  was  actually  to  achieve.  The  idea  and 
the  foreboding  of  death  was  certainly  very  present 
to  him  at  this  time,  though  it  made  no  faintest 
difference  to  his  actions.  After  the  battle  of  the 
Nile  Captain  Hallowell  had  made  him  the  strange 
present  of  a  coffin  formed  from  the  wood  of  the 
French  flagship  UOrient,  to  remind  him,  said  the 
bluff  captain,  that  in  spite  of  his  glory  he  was 
mortal.  Just  before  he  left  London  he  called  at 
his  upholsterer's,  Mr.  Peddieson,  in  Brewer  Street, 
where  the  coffin  was  kept,  and  desired  him  to  take 
a  special  care  of  it,  for,  he  said,  "  I  think  it  highly 
probable  that  I  may  want  it  on  my  return." 

Another  farewell  visit  was  to  his  friend  Sir 
William  Beechey,  who  had  painted  his  portrait, 
and  to  whose  child  he  stood  godfather.  Before 
leaving  Sir  William  Beechey 's  house  in  Harley 
Street,  the  Admiral  asked  what  he  should  give  as 
a  remembrance  to  his  baby  godson.  "  Give  him 
the  hat  you  wore  at  the  Battle  of  the  Nile,"  said 
the  painter,  and  so  the  famous  hat,  with  two 
bullet  holes  in  it,  was  given  to  the  fortunate  child. 

Sir  William  Beechey 's  admiration  for  the  Hero 
of  the  Nile  dated  back  some  years,  for  Lady  Nelson 
writing  to   her  husband  in  the  spring  of   1800, 
before  the  breach  between  them,  had  said  :     "I 

249 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

think  you  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  our 
good  father  is  sitting  for  his  portrait.  Sir  W. 
Beechey  is  the  fortunate  man.  You  must  know 
it  is  a  profound  secret.  I  went  to  Sir  W.  to  ask 
his  price,  look  at  his  pictures,  and  then  inquire 
whether  he  would  go  to  an  invalid.  The  answer, 
'  No,'  puzzled  me ;  however,  I  said,  '  Sometimes 
general  rules  were  broken  through.'  Sir  William, 
finding  I  was  rather  anxious  about  this  picture, 
said  that  really  he  never  went  to  any  person 
excepting  the  King  and  Royal  Family.  The 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  York  had  that  instant  left 
the  house.  I  knew  that.  4  But,  madam,  may  I 
ask  who  is  the  gentleman  ?  '  '  Yes,  sir ;  my 
Lord  Nelson's  father.'  '  My  God,  I  would  go  to 
York  to  do  it !  Yes,  madam,  directly.'  He  was 
as  good  as  his  word,  and  has  been  here  twice. 
I  think  the  likeness  will  be  an  exceeding  good 
one." 

About  the  time  of  his  last  visit  to  Beechey,  a 
dinner  was  given  in  Nelson's  honour  at  which  West, 
the  painter  of  the  "  Death  of  Wolfe  "  was  present. 
The  story  is  told  that  the  Admiral  regretted  his 
art  education  had  been  so  neglected.  "  But,"  he 
said,  turning  to  West,  "  there  is  one  picture  whose 
power  I  do  feel.  I  never  pass  a  paintshop  where 
your  *  Death  of  Wolfe  '  is  in  the  window,  without 
being  stopped  by  it."  He  asked  West  why  he 
painted  no  more  pictures  like  that  ?  "  Because 
there  are  no  more  subjects,"  answered  the  artist. 
"  Damn  it,"  exclaimed  Nelson,  "  I  didn't  think 

250 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

of  that,"  and  he  asked  West  to  take  a  glass  of 
champagne  with  him.  "  But,  my  Lord,"  con- 
tinued the  painter,  "  I  fear  your  intrepidity  will 
yet  furnish  me  with  such  another  scene,  and  if  it 
should,  I  shall  certainly  avail  myself  of  it." 
"  Will  you  ?  Will  you  ?  "  Nelson  cried,  pouring 
out  the  bumpers  and  striking  his  glass  against 
West's,  "  then  I  hope  I  shall  die  in  the  next 
battle  !  " 

Nelson  could  little  have  thought  when  he  made 
that  excitable  remark  how  very  rapidly  and 
completely  his  hope  would  be  fulfilled.  All  the 
preparations  were  done  and  his  departure  fixed. 
The  day  before  Lord  Minto  took  leave  of  him. 
"  I  went  yesterday  to  Merton,"  he  wrote  on 
September  13th,  "  in  a  great  hurry,  as  Lord  Nelson 
said  he  was  to  be  at  home  all  day,  and  he  dines  at 
half-past  three.  But  I  found  he  had  been  sent  for 
to  Carleton  House,  and  he  and  Lady  Hamilton 
did  not  return  till  half -past  five."  To  make  up 
for  this  loss  of  two  hours  of  the  Admiral's  company 
Minto  "  stayed  till  ten  at  night,  and  I  took  a  final 
leave  of  him.  He  goes  to  Portsmouth  to-night. 
Lady  Hamilton  was  in  tears  all  day  yesterday, 
could  not  eat,  and  hardly  drink,  and  near  swooning, 
and  all  at  table."  Which  was  hardly  living  up  to 
her  heroine  attitude,  and  must  have  made  it  still 
more  heartrending  for  Nelson  to  say  his  last  fare- 
well to  her,  to  Horatia,  to  Merton.  But  on  the 
evening  of  Friday,  the  13th  of  September,  he  took 
his  last  look  at  his  little  daughter  as  she  lay  asleep, 

251 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

kneeling  down  at  the  cot's  side  to  pray  for  her ; 
his  last  embrace  of  Emma  and  his  sister  Catherine, 
and  attended  to  the  gate  by  George  Matcham,  at 
half-past  ten  stepped  into  the  postchaise  which 
relentlessly  waited  for  him.  Darkness  would  rob 
him  of  any  final  impression  of  Merton,  save  of  a 
softly  lighted  window  or  two  gleaming  before  his 
blurred  eyes.  Grief  he  had  left  behind  him, 
grief  he  carried  with  him.  "  Friday  night,  at 
half -past  ten,  drove  from  dear,  dear  Merton,"  he 
wrote  in  his  private  diary,  "  where  I  left  all  that 
I  hold  dear  in  this  world,  to  go  to  serve  my  King 
and  country.  May  the  great  God  whom  I  adore 
enable  me  to  fulfill  the  expectations  of  my  country, 
and  if  it  is  His  good  pleasure  that  I  should  return, 
my  thanks  will  never  cease  being  offered  up  to 
the  throne  of  His  mercy." 

Brave  and  piteous  words  ! — so  brave  in  act,  so 
piteous  in  hope. 

All  through  the  night  he  drove,  through  Guildford 
and  over  Hindhead  on  his  way  to  Portsmouth. 
At  Liphook,  at  the  Anchor  Inn,  he  snatched  a  hasty 
breakfast,  and  in  his  hurry  left  a  sextant  behind 
him.  In  the  early  morning  of  the  14th  he  reached 
Portsmouth  and  went  for  an  hour  or  two's  rest  to 
the  George  Inn.  There  he  wrote  his  last  letter  to 
Emma  Hamilton  on  English  soil — the  final  letters 
were  written  at  sea.  This  is  the  letter  :  "  My 
dearest  and  most  beloved  of  women,  Nelson's 
Emma, — I  arrived  here  this  moment  and  Mr. 
Lancaster  takes  it.  His  coach  is  at  the  door  and 

252 


P 
O 


05 

£ 


THE  LAST  LANDFALL 

only  waits  for  my  line.  Victory  is  at  St.  Helens, 
and,  if  possible,  shall  be  at  sea  this  day.  God 
protect  you  and  my  dear  Horatia  prays  ever  your 
most  faithful  Nelson  and  Bronte." 

So  soon  as  it  was  known  that  he  had  arrived 
crowds  gathered  to  say  "  Hail  and  farewell."  To 
escape  these  crowds  Nelson  left  the  George  by 
the  little  narrow  stone-flagged  back  entrance,  that 
leads  into  Penny  Street,  and  instead  of  embarking 
at  the  usual  Sally-Port,  made  towards  the  bathing 
machines  on  Southsea  beach.  But  the  people  found 
him  and  followed  him — they  would  not  be  denied. 
They  struggled  to  touch  him,  to  shake  his  hand. 
"  I  wish  I  had  two  hands,  then  I  could  accom- 
modate more  of  you,"  said  Nelson  as  they  pressed 
round  him.  In  Southey's  classic  words  :  "  Many 
were  in  tears,  and  many  knelt  before  him,  and 
blessed  him  as  he  passed.  England  has  had  many 
heroes,  but  never  one  who  so  entirely  possessed  the 
love  of  his  fellow-countrymen  as  Nelson.  .  .  .  They 
pressed  upon  the  parapet  to  gaze  after  him  when 
his  barge  pushed  off,  and  he  was  returning  their 
cheers  by  waving  his  hat  .  .  .  the  people  would 
not  be  debarred  from  gazing,  till  the  last  moment, 
upon  the  hero,  the  darling  hero  of  England." 

"  I  had  their  huzzas  before,"  said  Nelson  to 
Captain  Hardy,  who  was  with  him,  "  1  have  their 
hearts  now." 


Little  over  a  month  later  Nelson  had  won  the 

253 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

battle  of  Trafalgar  and  died  in  the  very  hour  of 
victory.  That  spirit  "  fraught  with  fire  unquench- 
able "  was  still  and  silent,  though  his  name  and 
fame  shone  with  undying  glory.  The  last  scene 
in  the  Victory's  dark  cockpit  was  a  strange 
pathetic  mingling  of  the  great  ideals  which  had 
lighted  all  his  life — Duty,  his  Country,  patriotism 
of  the  noblest  kind,  self-sacrifice,  suffering,  courage; 
of  those  things  and  of  the  little  homely  tender 
things  which  lay  so  close  to  his  craving,  only 
half-satisfied  heart.  He  ached  to  know  how 
many  of  the  enemy's  ships  had  been  taken,  he 
remembered  to  request  that  Lady  Hamilton  was 
to  have  his  hair  and  all  other  things  belonging  to 
him.  Confidently  he  left  her  and  "  my  Daughter 
Horatia  as  a  legacy  to  my  Country  "  :  he  was 
dying  for  England,  he  could  not  think  that 
England  would  refuse  that  legacy.  When  the 
surgeon  told  him  his  injuries  were  past  aid,  Nelson 
said,  "  I  know  it.  I  feel  something  rising  in  my 
breast  which  tells  me  I  am  gone." 


254 


CHAPTER  XIV:  ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND 
GLORY. 

FOR  fifteen  days  after  the  victory  of  Tra- 
falgar and  the  death  of  Nelson,  England 
remained  ignorant  both  of  her  glory  and  of 
her  grief.  For  that  space  of  time  the  small 
portion  of  the  nation  which  was  nearest  him,  his 
sailors  at  sea,  mourned  Nelson  alone.  The  noble 
words  of  Collingwood's  grief  are  well  known,  but 
amid  all  the  solemn  and  touching  tributes  his 
death  was  to  call  forth,  we  get  perhaps  our  most 
vivid  glimpse  of  the  love  his  seamen  bore  him 
in  the  artless  remarks  of  an  unlettered  sailor  who 
had  been  through  the  action  in  the  Royal  Sovereign. 
"  Our  dear  Admiral  Nelson  is  killed  !  "  he  wrote, 
with  the  blood  and  sweat  of  battle  still  upon  him, 
*'  so  we  have  paid  pretty  sharply  for  licking  'em. 
I  never  sat  eyes  on  him,  for  which  I  am  both  sorry 
and  glad ;  for,  to  be  sure,  I  should  like  to  have 
seen  him — but  then,  all  the  men  in  our  ship  who 
have  seen  him  are  such  soft  toads,  they  have 
done  nothing  but  blast  their  eyes,  and  cry,  ever 
since  he  was  killed.  God  bless  you  !  chaps  that 
fought  like  the  devil,  sit  down  and  cry  like  a 
wench." 

255 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

The  hard  tears  of  those  rough  seamen  were  a 
finer  tribute  than  any  kings  and  princes  could  offer 
Nelson. 

The  Pickle  schooner  reached  England  with  the 
news  of  his  death — beside  which  the  battle- triumph 
seemed  to  sink  into  insignificance — on  the  5th  of 
November.  Each  outward  coach  from  Portsmouth 
bore  the  news,  with  its  mingling  of  cypress  and 
bay.  Early  the  following  morning  a  "  Gazette 
Extraordinary  "  announced  the  nation's  loss  and 
gain.  All  English  eyes  and  hearts  turned  seaward 
to  the  shot-battered  Victory,  jury-rigged,  returning 
homewards  with  the  body  of  the  dead  hero.  At 
first  Collingwood  had  intended  to  send  it  home 
in  the  frigate  Euryalus,  but  the  whole  crew  of  the 
flagship  remonstrated ;  they  sent  a  boatswain's 
mate  as  their  spokesman,  and  he  said  :  "  The  noble 
Admiral  had  fought  with  them,  and  fell  on  their 
own  deck.  If,  by  being  put  on  board  a  frigate, 
his  remains  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
their  loss  would  be  doubly  grievous  :  and  therefore 
they  were  resolved,  one  and  all,  to  carry  it  in  safety 
to  England,  or  to  go  to  the  bottom  with  their 
sacred  charge." 

The  same  spirit  is  manifest  in  a  letter  from  a 
Marine  of  the  Victory  which  survives.  '  They 
have  behaved  well  to  us,"  he  says,  "  for  they 
wanted  to  take  Lord  Nelson  from  us,  but  we  told 
Captain  as  we  brought  him  out  we  would  bring 
him  home ;  so  it  was  so,  and  he  was  put  into  a 
cask  of  spirits." 

256 


ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

This  same  Marine's  account  of  Nelson  and  his 
last  dying  words  is  instinct  with  a  quality  of  its 
own,  for  which  we  look  in  vain  in  more  learned 
historians  :  "I  shall  just  give  you  a  description 
of  Lord  Nelson.  He  is  a  man  about  five  feet  seven, 
very  slender,  of  an  affable  temper  ;  but  a  rare  man 
for  his  country,  and  has  been  in  123  actions  and 
skrimmages,  and  got  wounded  with  a  small  ball, 
but  it  was  mortal.  It  was  his  last  words,  that  it 
was  his  lot  for  me  to  go,  but  I  am  going  to  heaven, 
but  never  haul  down  your  colours  to  France,  for 
your  men  will  stick  to  you." 

The  Pickle  schooner  reached  Spithead  with  the 
news  of  Nelson's  death  on  November  5th ;  the 
Victory  with  his  body  on  board  did  not  reach  St. 
Helen's  till  the  4th  of  December,  and  immediately 
every  ship  in  the  Roads  lowered  their  flags  and 
pendants  to  half-mast.  From  St.  Helen's  the  sad 
Victory  sailed  up  Channel  to  the  Nore.  Owing 
to  contrary  winds  she  had  difficulty  in  getting 
round  the  South  Foreland,  and  as  a  gale  sprang 
up  had  to  anchor  for  three  days  in  the  Downs, 
which  had  been  so  familiar  to  the  living  hero. 
While  the  Victory  was  anchored  there,  Captain 
Hardy  and  some  of  the  officers  landed  and  went 
to  the  house,  of  a  Mr.  Petman.  His  daughter, 
a  girl  of  seventeen  at  the  time,  used  in  later  years 
to  relate  how  the  Victory's  officers  came  to  her 
father's  house  and  how  she  felt  "  almost  terrified 
to  see  these  rather  rough  and  bearded  men  talking 
of  their  departed  Chief  with  tears  running  down 

257  s 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

their  weather-beaten  faces  as  they  told  of  his  death 
and  how  they  loved  him."  * 

When  the  Victory  reached  the  Nore,  that  coffin 
made  from  the  Orient's  mainmast,  which  Nelson 
had  prophetically  said  he  would  "  probably  want," 
was  conveyed  on  board,  and  his  body  taken  out 
of  the  spirits  of  wine  and  placed  therein.  Relics 
of  him,  anything  that  had  been  his  or  near  him, 
were  eagerly  sought  by  the  brave  men  who  had 
fought  and  lived  with  him.  The  block  of  wood 
on  which  his  head  had  rested  while  in  its  temporary 
coffin  was  made  into  small  boxes  and  medal  cases 
which  were  given  to  his  officers.  One  of  these 
cases  has  a  little  gold  plate  let  into  the  lid  inscribed 
"  Nelson's  Last  Pillow."  There  was  something 
in  Nelson  which  brought  out  the  tender  side  in 
even  the  roughest  valour. 

The  following  laconic  record  of  the  Victory's 
parting  with  her  Admiral  is  copied  from  the  actual 
Deck-Log  kept  at  the  time.  The  date  is  "  Dec. 
1805.  Monday,  23." 

"  H.M.S.  Victory  Moored  in  the  Swin.  Wind 
Moderate  breezes  and  cloudy  at  Ih.  40m.  S.W. 
Shortened  sail  and  anchored  with  the  small  bower 
anchor  in  12  fms  mud  in  the  Swin.  Veered  and 
Moored,  1  Cable  to  the  Westward,  J  Cable  to  the 
East.  When  Moored  Black  Tail  Beacon  bore 
NNE. — 1J  miles.  Came  alongside  Commissioner 
Grey's  yacht  from  Sheerness  and  reed,  the  Remains 

*  I  am  indebted  for  this  touching  reminiscence  to  Mrs.  Hideout,  to 
•whose  mother  Miss  Petman  was  governess. 

258 


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ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

of  the  Late  Lord  Viscount  Nelson  K.B. — Vice 
Admiral  of  the  White. 

"  Got  a  Pilot  on  Board  to  take  the  Ship  to 
Chatham." 

Officially  the  Victory  had  no  emotion  to  waste 
on  Nelson — it  was  only  unofficially  that  her 
officers  and  ship's  company  gave  way  to  manly 
tears. 

About  noon  on  the  24th  of  December  the  Ad- 
miralty yacht  with  the  body  on  board,  attended 
by  Alexander  Scott,  Nelson's  devoted  secretary, 
and  many  officers  and  other  people,  arrived  in  the 
Thames  off  Greenwich  Hospital.  At  five  o'clock 
the  same  day  Nelson's  coffin  was  lowered  into  a 
boat,  covered  with  the  Victory's  colours,  and 
conveyed  to  the  Hospital  stairs,  whence  it  was 
borne  by  a  party  of  the  Victory's  seamen  to  the 
Painted  Hall.  There  for  over  a  week  Alexander 
Scott  watched  by  the  coffin,  day  and  night,  sleepless 
through  the  dark  December  hours,  so  emaciated 
and  afflicted  with  grief  that  many  people  were 
startled  by  his  appearance.  "  Every  thought  and 
word  I  have  is  about  your  dear  Nelson,"  he  wrote 
to  Lady  Hamilton.  "  Here  lies  Bayard,  but 
Bayard  victorious.  ...  So  help  me  God,  I  think 
he  was  a  true  knight  and  worthy  the  age  of 
chivalry." 

On  Sunday,  Monday  and  Tuesday,  from  January 
5th  to  7th,  1806,  Nelson's  body  lay  in  state  in  the 
Painted  Hall.  A  contemporary  chronicler  thus 
records  the  arrangements :  "A  temporary  wains- 

259 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

coting,  placed  at  some  distance  from  the  inside 
walls  of  this  grand  structure,  formerly  called  King 
William's  Building,  was  covered  with  black  cloth 
from  top  to  bottom,  and  hung  all  round  with  one 
row  of  lamps,  having  two  candles  in  each,  and  the 
intervals  between  them  appropriately  emblazoned 
with  escutcheons  of  his  Lordship's  armorial  bear- 
ings. In  the  centre  of  the  hall  a  boarded  par- 
tition, five  feet  high,  was  erected  lengthwise, 
covered  with  black  cloth,  hung  with  lamps,  and 
decorated  on  each  side  like  the  wainscoting.  This 
divided  the  space  into  two  equal  parts,  and  formed 
avenues  of  ten  feet  wide,  one  to  conduct  to  the 
coffin,  and  the  other  leading  from  it,  with  the 
utmost  convenience.  This  partition  terminated 
at  the  upper  end,  within  about  seven  or  eight  feet 
of  the  rails,  inclosing,  in  a  semi-circular  form,  the 
coffin  of  the  illustrious  Hero,  which  was  laid  with 
the  feet  towards  the  spectators.  .  .  .  The  pall  was 
folded  up  to  the  head  of  the  coffin,  so  that  the 
richness  and  splendour  of  the  latter  were  displayed 
to  the  utmost  advantage.  A  Viscount's  Coronet 
lay  on  the  head  of  the  coffin,  and  other  State  orna- 
ments on  a  cushion  stool  at  the  feet.  The  arms 
were  affixed  to  the  black  drapery  at  the  head, 
surmounted  with  a  crescent,  on  one  side  of  which 
was  the  Lion  of  England,  holding  a  sprig  of  laurel 
in  his  paw,  while  the  British  colours  seemed  to 
wave  in  triumph  over  his  back.  On  the  other  side 
a  sailor  was  represented  in  a  sorrowful  attitude, 
holding  a  flag  in  one  hand  and  a  laurel  in  the  other. 

260 


ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

.  .  .  This  part  within  the  railing  was  hung  with 
a  double  row  of  lamps,  and  decorated  both  with 
escutcheons  and  stars.  From  the  arched  way 
at  its  entrance,  a  festooned  curtain  of  black  cloth, 
with  black  fringe,  was  let  down  about  half  way, 
which  heightened  the  solemn  dignity  of  the  whole 
scene.  There  was  also  a  range  of  lamps  placed 
along  the  crescent,  at  some  distance  from  the  foot 
of  the  coffin." 

To  this  night  of  mourning  lit  by  stars  of  pride 
the  people  for  whom  Nelson  had  died  came  in 
thousands  to  pay  him  their  last  homage.  So 
passionately  they  came  that  a  strong  guard  of 
the  Royal  Greenwich  Volunteers  and  sailors  of 
the  Victory,  armed  with  boarding  pikes,  had  to 
protect  them  from  themselves.  Beggars  came 
in  their  rags  and  cripples  on  crutches,  as  well  as 
the  highest  in  the  land,  for  in  the  words  of  a 
contemporary  writer,  "  It  might  with  truth  be 
asserted  that  the  bosom  of  every  Briton  was  a 
tomb  in  which  the  memory  of  their  favourite  hero 
was  embalmed."  There  is  the  ring  of  truth  even 
in  the  somewhat  heavy  words  of  the  "  Annual 
Register  "  :  "  When  the  tidings  of  the  glorious 
Victory  off  Trafalgar,  with  all  the  train  of  blessings 
which  it  brought  with  it,  reached  England,  and 
that  it  was  known  that  they  were  purchased  with 
the  life  of  her  Hero,  not  an  individual  in  the 
Country  .  .  .  who  would  not  have  given  up  the 
Victory  to  have  saved  the  Victim." 

When  the  splendid  and  tragic  news  arrived 

261 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

the  Royal  Family  were  moved  to  tears,  and  Lord 
Malmesbury  gives  an  account  of  Pitt's  emotions : 
"  I  shall  never  forget  the  eloquent  manner  in  which 
he  described  his  conflicting  feelings  when  roused 
in  the  night  to  read  Collingwood's  despatches. 
Pitt  observed  that  he  had  been  called  up  at  various 
hours  in  his  eventful  life  by  the  arrival  of  news  of 
various  hues,  but  that,  whether  good  or  bad,  he 
could  always  lay  his  head  on  his  pillow  and  sink 
into  a  sound  sleep  again.  On  this  occasion, 
however,  the  great  event  announced  brought  with 
it  so  much  to  weep  over,  as  well  as  to  rejoice  at, 
that  he  could  not  calm  his  thoughts,  but  at  length 
got  up,  though  it  was  three  in  the  morning." 

In  his  "  Diary "  Lord  Malmesbury  continues 
his  picture  of  that  time :  "  Could  he  have  lived 
but  long  enough  to  have  known,  that  no  victory 
— not  even  his  victories,  could  weigh  in  the  hearts 
of  Englishmen  against  his  most  precious  life,  it 
would  have  been  some  consolation.  I  never  saw 
so  little  public  joy.  The  illumination  seemed  dim, 
and,  as  it  were,  half-clouded  by  the  desire  of 
expressing  the  mixture  of  contending  feelings ; 
every  common  person  in  the  streets  speaking  first 
of  their  sorrow  for  him,  and  then  of  the  victory." 

The  nation  decreed  to  Nelson  a  magnificent  burial 
in  St.  Paul's.  He  is  said,  on  the  authority  of  Dr. 
Beatty,  to  have  told  Captain  Hardy  that  in  case 
of  his  death,  which  he  expected,  and  a  public 
funeral,  he  would  rather  be  buried  at  St.  Paul's 
than  Westminster  Abbey,  for  he  had  heard  "  an 

262 


^^PM^Bi^^fL  ^ 


PANOKAMA  OF  LORD  NELSON'S  FUNERAL  PROCESSION. 

From  an  Etchiny  />//  Genrtje  Cruikghatik. 


ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

old  tradition  when  he  was  a  boy,  that  Westminster 
Abbey  was  built  on  a  spot  where  once  existed  a 
deep  morass,  and  he  thought  it  likely  that  the 
lapse  of  time  would  reduce  the  ground  on  which 
it  now  stands  to  its  primitive  state  of  a  swamp, 
without  leaving  a  trace  of  the  Abbey."  If  his 
Country  should  not  bury  him,  "  You  know  what 
to  do  with  me,"  he  said  to  Hardy,  returning  to 
his  early  wish  to  lie  where  he  was  born.  In 
his  Will  of  two  years  earlier  Nelson  had  written, 
"  If  I  die  in  England,  my  body  to  be  bu/i^d  in 
the  Parish  Church  of  Burnham  Thorpe  nea*  the 
remains  of  my  deceased  father  and  mother,  and 
in  as  private  a  manner  as  may  be."  In  the  same 
Will  he  bequeathed  a  hundred  pounds  to  the  poor 
of  Burnham  Thorpe,  Sutton,  and  Norton.  The 
year  after  that  Will  and  one  year  before  his  death 
he  had  written  the  touching  letter  *  in  which  he 
says,  "  Most  probably  I  shall  never  see  dear,  dear 
Burnham  again ;  but  I  have  a  satisfaction  in 
thinking  that  my  bones  will  probably  be  laid 
with  my  Father's  in  the  village  that  gave  me 
birth." 

But  green  and  peaceful  Burnham  Thorpe  was 
not  to  have  his  bones  :  England  claimed  them. 

On  the  8th  of  January  Nelson  was  taken  by 
water  to  Whitehall  Stairs.  The  Barge  which 
bore  his  body  was  covered  with  black  velvet, 
and  hi  the  stern  over  the  coffin  was  a  canopy 
adorned  with  funereal  plumes.  The  Thames  was 

*  Reproduced  in  facsimile  in  this  volume. 

263 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

crowded  with  barges,  the  Lord  Mayor's  Barge  and 
those  of  all  the  great  City  Companies  taking  part 
in  the  procession.  From  the  banks  an  "  in- 
numerable multitude  "  looked  on  in  deep  silence, 
through  which  vibrated  the  dull  booming  of  the 
minute  guns.  As  the  Tower  was  passed  the  great 
guns  there  were  fired.  Every  imaginable  activity 
on  the  river  had  ceased,  all  flags  at  half-mast, 
all  the  sea-faring  population  mourners.  It  was 
the  same  in  the  busy  City,  every  shop  was  closed 
and  all  for  that  one  day  dedicated  themselves  to 
Nelson.  A  king's  funeral  could  not  have  been 
more  magnificent ;  no  king's  funeral  could  have 
been  so  full  of  loyalty  and  grief  and  love.  As 
the  body  was  being  landed  at  the  water-stairs  in 
Palace  Yard  the  sun  disappeared  and  from  heavy 
clouds  came  a  tremendous  hail-storm.  Under  a 
canopy  supported  by  six  Admirals  Nelson's  body 
was  borne  down  Whitehall  and  into  the  familiar 
portals  of  the  Admiralty — for  the  last  time.  Un- 
known he  had  trod  there,  beseeching  employment, 
even  in  a  "  cockle-boat "  ;  now  he  came  there 
the  greatest,  the  most  beloved  hero  of  his  country. 
He  was  carried  into  that  room  on  the  left  of  the 
great  hall,  called  the  Captains'  Room,  which  was 
hung  in  black,  lighted  with  forty-six  wax  lights, 
while  on  either  side  of  the  coffin  stood  six  tall 
candles.  There  all  night  his  chaplain  and  private 
secretary,  the  faithful  Alexander  Scott,  kept  watch. 
On  the  morrow,  long  before  it  was  light  in  that 
dark  January,  the  streets  were  filled  with  people 

264 


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ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

who  were  ready  to  endure  both  darkness  and  cold 
so  that  they  might  have  one  glimpse  of  the  hero's 
funeral.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  immense  procession 
set  out  from  the  Admiralty.  The  public  were 
able  to  gaze  upon  almost  the  whole  of  the  Peerage, 
upon  the  Royal  Dukes  of  Cambridge,  Sussex, 
Cumberland,  Kent,  Clarence,  and  York,  upon  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  upon  Rouge  Croix  and  Rouge 
Dragon,  upon  Admirals  and  Captains  and  Green- 
wich Pensioners,  and  all  the  representatives  of 
her  national  life  that  England  could  call  together, 
before  at  last  the  Funeral  Car  of  Nelson  came  in 
sight.  Great  and  towering  was  this  car,  carved 
at  the  head  and  stern  to  represent  the  Victory ; 
above  the  coffin  was  a  canopy  like  the  covering  of 
a  sarcophagus,  supported  by  four  columns  in  the 
shape  of  palm-trees,  wreathed  with  laurel  and 
cypress.  This  great  structure,  with  its  additions 
of  sable  plumes  and  emblems,  was  drawn  by  six 
led  horses. 

The  most  noteworthy  naval  people  in  the 
procession  were  the  Chief  Mourner,  Nelson's  old 
friend  Sir  Peter  Parker,  and  Captain  Thomas 
Hardy,  bearing  the  Banner  of  Emblems.  The  most 
noteworthy  absences  from  the  funeral  ceremonies 
in  St.  Paul's  were  the  Viscountess  Nelson  and  Lady 
Hamilton — neither  the  dead  Admiral's  widow  in 
law  or  widow  in  love  were  present  at  the  last 
scene  of  all. 

The  procession  entered  St.  Paul's  by  the  western 
door,  and  within  the  great  Cathedral  was  all 

265 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

draped  in  black  and  filled  with  a  huge  and  silent 
multitude.  The  coffin  was  first  placed  in  the 
Choir,  and  from  there  removed  to  a  platform  under 
the  Dome  in  the  centre  of  which  was  the  grave  in 
the  Crypt  below.  As  the  service  drew  on  the 
short  January  day  darkened,  and  torches  were 
lighted  in  the  Choir  and  a  great  lanthorn  in  the 
Dome,  which  had  been  specially  constructed  for 
the  occasion,  was  illumined  with  130  lights.  "  The 
grand  central  light,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  splendour  of  a  spectacle 
in  which  the  burial  of  one  of  the  first  of  warriors 
and  heroes  was  graced  by  the  appearance  of  all 
the  princes  of  the  blood,  of  many  of  the  first 
nobility  of  the  land,  and  of  an  unexampled  number 
of  the  subjects  of  his  Majesty  in  general." 

No  more  memorable  scene  has  ever  been  enacted 
in  the  St.  Paul's  of  Wren  than  this  burial  of  Nelson. 
The  winter  dark  and  sable  trappings,  the  soaring 
Dome  imperfectly  illuminated  even  by  the  much- 
admired  "  lanthorn,"  the  flickering  torches,  the 
silent  breaths  and  suppressed  sobs  of  a  multitude, 
the  great  Psalms  and  Anthem  and  Magnificat, 
rising  and  echoing  in  the  vast  spaces,  the  boys' 
unearthly  trebles  sounding  as  though  angels  leaned 
down  to  sing  comfort  for  human  sorrow.  And  in 
the  midst  of  all,  circled  by  the  encompassing 
thought  of  thousands,  that  coffin,  so  small  in  the 
immense  Cathedral,  which  held  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  Hero — the  restless,  anxious,  passionate  heart 
at  last  stilled  from  troubling,  for  as  they  sang 

266 


FUNERAL  PROCESSION  OF  THE  LATE  LORD  YISCOUNT  NELSON 
TO    ST.   PAUL'S,    LONDON,   9m    JANUARY    1806. 

From  an  Aquatint  by  ^f.  Merigot  tifi&r  a  Dran-ing  by  C.  A.  Pugin. 


ENGLAND'S  GRIEF  AND  GLORY 

above  his  grave,  "  Man  that  is  born  of  a  woman 
hath  but  a  short  time  to  live."  Nelson's  time  of 
living  had  been  short — but  forty-seven  years — 
yet  in  that  space  he  had  wrought  so  greatly  that 
his  name  is  undying.  The  most  solemn  moment 
of  that  solemn  service  was  when  the  coffin  was 
carried  to  the  grave  under  the  Dome  and  there 
lowered  to  its  resting  place  below,  while  above  it 
floated  in  benediction  the  words,  "  His  body  is 
buried  hi  peace.  But  his  name  liveth  evermore." 

Then  in  sonorous  syllables  the  Garter  King  at 
Arms  proclaimed  the  style  and  titles  of  the 
deceased,  adding  after  the  long  list,  against  all 
precedent,  "  and  the  Hero  who,  in  the  moment  of 
Victory,  fell  covered  with  immortal  glory  ! — Let 
us  humbly  trust,  that  he  is  now  raised  to  bliss 
ineffable,  and  to  a  glorious  immortality."  He 
then  threw  into  the  grave  the  broken  staves  of 
the  officers  of  Nelson's  household,  where  also  the 
shot-torn  flags  of  the  Victory  were  laid — all  save 
one,  which  the  dead  Admiral's  sailors  who  had 
carried  the  coffin  into  St.  Paul's  seized  and  tore 
into  fragments,  so  that  each  might  have  some 
precious  relic  of  the  man  they  had  loved  and 
fought  under. 

And  then  the  vast  crowds  poured  out  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  into  the  winter  dark,  at  once 
uplifted  and  stricken,  leaving  Nelson  alone  in  his 
tomb.  Perhaps  a  woman's  comment,  that  of 
Lady  Londonderry,  best  expresses  the  most  ele- 
vated feeling  at  the  heart  of  that  multitude  :  "  He 

267 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

now  begins  his  immortal  career,  having  nothing  left 
to  achieve  upon  earth,  and  bequeathing  to  the 
English  fleet  a  legacy  which  they  alone  are  able 
to  improve.  Had  I  been  his  wife,  or  his  mother, 
I  would  rather  have  wept  him  dead,  than  seen  him 
languish  on  a  less  splendid  day.  In  such  a  death 
there  is  no  sting,  and  in  such  a  grave  everlasting 
victory." 


268 


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H  J      *' 


CHAPTER  XV  :    THE  "  NELSON  TOUCH." 

THAT  little  phrase  of  the  "  Nelson  Touch," 
coined  in  a  moment  of  inspiration  by 
Nelson  himself,  has  stood  for  a  century  and 
over  as  meaning  so  much  more  than  its  originator 
ever  intended.  According  to  his  own  account  he 
used  it  in  a  purely  tactical  and  professional  sense- 
though  the  literal  interpretation  still  leaves  a  sense 
of  mystery  as  to  its  actual  meaning.  We,  who  were 
not  there,  wonder  why,  to  those  sea-worn  officers, 
it  was  like  "  an  electric  shock,"  why  some  of  them 
"  shed  tears."  Would  any  tactical  plan  have 
that  emotional  effect  ?  We  are  driven  to  believe 
that  there  was  more  than  the  literal  meaning, 
that  there  was  some  pre-vision  strangely  seen  hi 
the  phrase,  the  touch  of  conscious  greatness  which 
in  the  closing  months  of  his  life  certainly  came  over 
Nelson.  He  had  fully  realised  himself,  and  not 
only  himself  but  his  influence  over  other  men — that 
influence  which  like  a  flame  had  gone  through  the 
fleet  and  made  it  a  thing  of  terror  to  the  foe. 
"  My  God,"  as  the  unhappy  Villeneuve  cried, 
"  you  are  all  Nelsons  !  " 

Such  was  Nelson's  influence  living,  such  the 
magic  of  his  impassioned  and  prevailing  personality 
when  he  was  there  to  enforce  it  by  look  and  tone 

269 


and  action.  But  the  spell  still  works ;  he,  being 
dead,  yet  speaketh.  Generations  that  have  never 
known  him  feel  that  he,  above  all  heroes  of  our 
history,  is  a  living  man  and  no  name.  Through 
all  the  barriers  of  time  and  distance  and  silence, 
through  his  very  apotheosis  as  hero  which  would 
remove  him  from  the  kindly  contact  of  a  working- 
day  world — through  all  these  obstacles  Nelson  has 
broken.  By  very  strength  of  his  weaknesses, 
his  mistakes,  his  power  of  loving,  his  essential 
humanity,  he  appeals  to  us,  as  no  classic  and 
faultless  hero  can  appeal.  We  love  him  because 
hi  his  lifetime  none  knew  better  how  to  love,  not 
only  one  woman,  but  many  men. 

Surveying  his  life,  though  it  is  the  great  battles 
that  make  him  famous,  that  rear  him  columns 
and  bury  him  in  St.  Paul's,  it  is  not  the  great  battles 
that  render  him  so  supremely  interesting,  so 
ultimate  and  near  to  us.  In  another  sense  than 
the  magnificent  naval  one  in  which  he  used  it 
Nelson  might  truly  say,  "  My  Motto  shall  be 
Touch  and  Take."  He  has  made  a  greater  con- 
quest over  the  hearts  of  the  English  people  than 
he  ever  made  over  the  beautiful  ships  of  the 
enemy. 

Nelson  had  another  background  than  that  of 
flame  and  battle.  He  who  was  so  un-English  in 
some  aspects  of  his  character,  in  his  passion  and 
petulance,  his  abandon  and  expressive  misery, 
his  general  power  of  conveying  what  he  felt 
instead  of  only  feeling  it — yet  had  at  his  heart 

270 


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THE  "  NELSON  TOUCH  ' 

the  most  English,  the  most  domestic  love  of  home, 
the  most  domestic  desire  for  wife  and  children, 
quiet  honour  and  troops  of  friends :  for  all  that 
goes  under  the  name  of  Peace  and  is  at  eternal 
enmity  with  War.  It  seemed  as  though  he  were 
two  men  :  the  one  the  true  son  of  his  good  and 
gentle  father ;  the  other  the  Man  of  Destiny 
on  whom  Genius  had  laid  her  awful  hand.  The 
struggle,  the  conflict  of  these  two  sides  of  his  nature 
tore  him  at  times  in  pieces  and  made  the  very  pith 
of  his  suffering  during  his  last  two  years  at  sea. 
But  the  English  background  must  never  be  for- 
gotten hi  any  complete  estimate  of  Nelson's  char- 
acter, though  it  has  been  so  largely  overshadowed 
by  battle  and  the  brilliant  and  restless  days  of 
Naples.  Yet  in  spite  of  estates  at  Bronte  in 
Sicily,  in  spite  of  the  larger  portion  of  his  life  spent 
in  foreign  waters  and  on  foreign  shores,  to  Nelson 
"  home  "  was  always  England  and  no  other  place. 
The  feeling  for  England  in  those  years  of  the 
Great  War  must  have  been  closer,  more  passionate 
than  any  we  know  now.  England,  that  small 
and  valiant  Island,  uninvaded,  defiant  behind  her 
fringe  of  sea-foam  ;  cherishing  within  her  coasts 
such  sweetness  of  cornland  and  pasture,  of  cowslip 
and  honeysuckle  and  flowering  hedgerows  ;  where 
quiet  sheep  were  guarded,  where  evening  bells 
ringing  across  the  fields  summoned  quiet  people 
to  sing  old  psalms  and  hear  old  words  read  out  from 
the  Bible.  Upon  that  oasis  of  an  idealised  England 
Napoleon's  threats  broke  in  vain — and  of  the  sea- 

271 


NELSON  IN  ENGLAND 

men  at  sea  guarding  this  home  peace  none  held  it 
more  nearly  to  their  hearts  than  Nelson.  He  had 
been  bred  to  it  at  its  most  peaceful,  he  loved  it 
and  remembered  it  in  his  last  years.  From  quiet 
Burnham  Thorpe  he  had  gone  out  aflame  with 
the  thirst  for  glory  and  for  fame — he  had  won 
them  in  overwhelming  measure,  and  then  all  his 
thoughts  and  dreams  turned  back  again  to  those 
simple  joys  which  belong  to  simple  men,  the  joys 
on  which  humanity  is  based. 

But  the  curse  of  genius  was  on  Nelson ;  for 
him  there  was  no  completion,  no  satisfaction. 
All  his  life  he  had  gone  seeking,  seeking  something 
in  toil,  in  danger,  in  heroism,  in  sacrifice,  in  love, 
in  war,  and  in  peace — something  that  he  never 
fully  found.  Unsatisfied  he  died,  and  therein 
lies  the  poignancy  of  his  appeal.  Nelson  so  lives 
to  memory,  the  "  Nelson  Touch  "  is  still  so  close, 
because  he  is  no  flawless  legendary  hero,  but  a 
suffering  man  who  cries  to  us  not  that  we  wonder 
at  him  and  admire,  but  that  we  give  him  love, 
which  was  ever  the  greatest  need  of  his  life. 
"  There  is  but  one  Nelson,"  said  St.  Vincent, 
and  in  a  naval  sense  he  spake  it.  We  know  it  true 
in  a  greater  than  naval  meaning — not  by  his 
victories  but  by  his  nature  we  say,  "  There  is  but 
one  Nelson." 


THE  END. 

272 


BRITANNIA    CONSECRATING    THE    ASHES    OF    THE 
IMMORTAL    NELSON. 

From  a  Stipule   EnijraviiKj   by   /•'.  Saiisout. 


INDEX 


BATH,  23,  26,  52  ,53,  94,  101,  112, 

113. 
Burnham  Thorpe,  2,  4,  6,  7,  31,  32, 

41,  129,  194, 195,  203,  263,  272. 

CLAEKE  and  M'Arthur,  quota- 
tions from,  26,  59,  61,  65,  102. 

Coke,  Thomas  William,  35,  36-37, 
62,  84. 

Collingwood,  Cuthbert,  129,  214, 
255. 

DAVISON,  Alexander,  31, 131, 138, 

177,  199,  214,  247. 
Deal,  28,  163,  167,  171,  174. 
Downs,  the,  28,  173 

GEORGE  III.,  30,  50,  105. 

HAMILTON,  Emma,  Lady,  1,  47, 
81,  95,  128, 130, 132, 135, 143,  145, 
151,  156,  158,  159,  161,  162,  169, 

178,  179,  190,  191,  197,  200,  210, 
218,  219,  222,  226,  228,  229,  232, 
239,  247,  251,  259,  265. 

Hamilton,  Sir  William,  151,  180, 
182,  191,  204,  205,  219-220,  227. 

Hardy,  Thomas  Masterman,  138- 
139,  257,  265 

Holkham  Hall,  in  Norfolk,  35,62,  90. 

Hood,  Lord,  29,  30,  39, 104. 

JERVIS,  Admiral  Sir  John,  Earl 
of  St.  Vincent,  91,  92,  96,  152, 
159,  163,  167,  178,  189,  272. 


LOCKER,  Captain  William,  21,  23, 
26,  30,  40,  46,  47,  52,  62,  94,  148. 


MATCHAM,  Catherine,    Mrs.,   7, 

32,  33,  38,  40,  46,  57,  58,  75,  239, 

240. 
Matcham,  George,  57,  59,  193,  211, 

233  239  252 
Merto'n  Place,   175,  177,  178,  179, 

196,  199-200,  223,  226,  227,  228, 

230,  232,  236. 

NELSON,  Catherine,  ste  Matcham. 

Nelson,  Rev.  Edmund,  2,  10,  34,  39, 
57,  58,  60,  66,  67,  74,  76,  82-83, 
87,  88,  93,  112,  116,  123,  125, 
131,  183,  184,  185-186,  191-192, 
193-195. 

Nelson,  Mrs.  Edmund,  8,  9. 

Nelson,  Frances  Lady,  43  ;  Nelson's 
account  of.  45  ;  marriage,  45  ; 
character,  47,  52,  61  ;  leaves 
Burnham,  77,  81,  86  ;  writes  to 
Nelson  after  St.  Vincent,  94-95, 
98,  112,  114-115,  118,  119,  124, 
131,  134,  135,  138,  140,  143  ; 
Nelson's  treatment  of,  144  ;  parts 
from  her,  149-151,  265. 

Nelson,  Horatio,  Lord,  birth  and 
parentage,  6  ;  childhood,  10-12  ; 
education,  12-15  ;  decides  to  go 
to  sea,  16  ;  joins  Raisonablf,  17  ; 
appearance,  19  ;  delicacy,  23-24  ; 
Rigaud's  portrait  of,  25  ;  on  half- 
pay,  30  ;  returns  to  Burnham, 
32-37  ;  visits  France,  37  ;  ad- 
venture with  a  horse,  41-42  ; 
marriage,  43-45  ;  interview  with 
George  Rose,  50-51  ;  lives  at 
Burnham  for  five  years,  56-77  : 
takes  to  gardening  and  farming, 
59  ;  trouble  with  American 


273 


INDEX 


Nelson,  Horatio — continued. 
claims,  63-64  ;  begs  employment, 
64  ;  visits  Wolterton,  67  ;  letter 
on  the  agricultural  labourer's  lot, 
69-73  ;  feasts  the  villagers,  76  ; 
leaves  Burnham,  77  ;  Commis- 
sions Agamemnon,  80 ;  praises 
Hoste,  84  ;  loses  sight  of  right 
eye  at  Calvi,  87  ;  in  Hotham's 
action,  89  ;  his  "  neat  cottage," 
90;  meets  Jervis,  91-92  ;  battle  of 
St.  Vincent,  92-93  ;  made  Knight 
of  the  Bath,  96  ;  conversation 
with  Drinkwater,  96-97  ;  presents 
captured  sword  to  Norwich,  98  ; 
loses  his  right  arm,  99  ;  invalided 
home,  101  ;  honoured  by  the 
King,  105  ;  memorial  for  wounds, 
106-107  ;  gratitude  for  recovery, 
108 ;  Lady  Spencer's  account  of 
him,  109  ;  is  presented  with 
Freedom  of  the  City  of  London, 
109-110  ;  buys  the  Boundwood, 
111  ;  Lady  Spencer's  account  of 
his  devotion  to  his  wife,  114-115  ; 
sails  in  the  Vanguard,  115; 
portrait  of,  by  Abbott,  119  : 
battle  of  the  Nile,  122  ;  created  a 
Peer,  126  ;  voted  a  sword  and 
other  gifts,  128  ;  lands  at  Yar- 
mouth, 137  ;  meets  his  wife  again, 
140  ;  London  applauds  him,  141  ; 
sits  to  Mrs.  Darner,  141-142  ; 
takes  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  142 ;  dines  at  the  Ad- 
miralty, 144  ;  spends  Christmas 
at  Fonthill,  146-148  ;  parts  from 
his  wife,  149-151  ;  meets  Flax- 
man,  151  ;  kindness  to  Mrs. 
Westcott,  153,  154,  155  ;  the 
"  Thompson  "  Correspondence, 
156-157  ;  battle  of  the  Baltic, 
159  ;  visits  the  wounded,  160, 
162  ;  coast  defence  services,  163- 
165  ;  attack  on  Boulogne  flotilla, 
167  ;  grief  for  Parker's  death, 
179 ;  buys  Merton,  179,  181  ; 
goes  to  Merton,  184,  186,  187; 
letter  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  188- 


Nelson,  Horatio — contimted. 

189,  190  ;  generosity,  197  ;  re- 
fuses the  City's  thanks,  198  ;  in 
private  life,  200-201  ;  visits 
Milford  Haven  with  the 
Hamiltons,  204-210  ;  opinions  on 
forestry,  211-214  ;  refuses  to 
dine  with  the  Lord  Mayor,  215  ; 
speaks  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
216-218  ;  takes  the  Mediterranean 
command,  222 ;  is  present  at 
Horatia's  christening,  22Z  ;  in- 
stalled as  Knight  of  the  Bath,  by 
proxy,  223  ;  hoists  his  flag  in  the 
Victory,  223  ;  sails  from  England, 
224,  233  ;  pursues  the  French 
fleet,  234 ;  returns  to  Merton, 
236  ;  popular  feeling  towards 
him,  241  ;  meets  Wellington, 
242-243  ;  his  last  portrait,  245, 
246-247  ;  forebodings,  249  ;  fare- 
well visit  to  Sir  William  Beechey, 
249  ;  his  question  to  West,  250  ; 
departure  from  Merton,  252  ; 
good-bye  to  England,  253  ;  his 
death,  254  ;  lies  in  state  at  Green- 
wich, 259-261  ;  his  funeral,  265- 
267  ;  the  "  Nelson  Touch,"  269. 

Nelson,  Rev.  William,  16,  29,  33, 
41,  52,  68,  86,  190,  193-194,  195, 
204,  240. 

Nisbet,  Josiah,  51,  52,  77,  81,  99. 

Norfolk,  4,  27,  28,  31,  99,  203. 

PARKER,  Lieutenant  Edward,  28, 

85,  165,  167,  169-172. 
Parker,  Sir  Peter,  22,  265. 
Pitt,   William,   126,  173,  174,  238, 

244,  262. 

SPENCER,  Earl,  First  Lord  of  the 

Admiralty,  49,  122,  133. 
Suckling, Captain,  16,  21,25,27. 

THOMPSON,  Horatia  Nelson,  156, 
157,  228,  230,  231,  251,  254. 


YARMOUTH,  Nelson  Column  at, 
18,  137,  158,  160. 


274 


UC  SOUTHfRN  Hf GWNAL  L««ARY  FACILITY 
III    III    III    I    II    II    I    Illl  II 


A    001  311  146    3 


21.1 


